


Operation: Projection

by OctorokIdol



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action, F/M, M/M, Mild Horror, Nightmares, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-25
Updated: 2013-08-25
Packaged: 2017-12-24 14:35:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/941131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OctorokIdol/pseuds/OctorokIdol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, people die when they are asleep. Nobody knows why, they just pass away, leaving no words to say to everybody they knew.</p><p>Temporal Dreams are what cause them to end this way, and it's up to Nightmare Hunters: people who enter and fight against these dreams, to save them. Oliver Parker, a new freshman to Saint Lincoln High School always thought he would be subjected to working for the rest of his life in a boring office job like his mother. But after meeting Solana, a sprite from the Dream Realm who tells him of his great potential being a Nightmare Hunter, everything changes in a quick flash.</p><p>Joined by his new classmate Kathy Martinez and the sophomore elite Nightmare Hunter Zackary Von Skornav, Oliver fights through Temporal Dreams to save everybody he can. But sometimes, there are things he finds out that nobody should ever have to know.</p><p>Some things too close to home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first actual attempt at a series. I've done plenty of stuff like One Shots and small chaptered, but I wanted to try a series.
> 
> I hope you enjoy! I plan to update frequently.

“Mom, you don’t have to do this,” I sighed in exasperation. The Volkswagen, tainted brown, was slowly twisting onto the pavement where other vehicles let out similar students my age.

“Oliver, can’t a mom drop her own son off at school?”

“Good one!” I replied sarcastically.

“Just call me when you are coming home, dear. I want to make chicken pot pie for you! And have a good day, freshman year is always the best year!” Her hoarse voice responded back.

I slowly closed the car door as she drove off in a quick flash, leaving the exhaust behind in a trail. I covered my mouth, trying to avoid breathing the exhaust in while I looked down at my phone. The time flashed back at me brightly. 7:07 AM. This was way too early for me. I mean, who starts school at this time?

I glanced at the orange building on the horizon. A sign above this building read: Meadows Middle School. Even they don’t start school until 9:30. I shifted my backpack that slouched over my shoulder like a hanging doll. I was so nervous about today, it was my first day of high school. The cold September winds had thrown my direction around as I continued on. Even for Portland, Oregon standards, it was cold. Glancing around, I noticed the multiple figures of all different ages walking into the school. I closed my eyes for a bit, taking in the conversations as they drifted around me.

“I heard about that! Did Chad really go through with it?”

“Oh my god, the sale was 40% off!”

Typical high school conversations if you ask me. I sighed, letting the people surpass me as I slowly paced myself. I gazed up at the huge school building that stood in front of me, giant windows of luxury and great white walls overlooked my actions. This was high school. I was in a bigger place with more expectations and more homework awaiting me. Placing my fingers around the handle, I slowly opened the front doors to Saint Lincoln High School. A blast of noise left my ears ringing as I entered. The white walls continued to seam inside the building, the black spotted patterns painted the wall and set the mood of the school. Glasses from other classrooms could be seen from the commons as well as the books from the library. The many different posters of state competitions hung from the walls as well as motivational posters. This was truly the high school life. Students of many sizes all squirmed around in the commons, classes were being listed off on a giant bulletin board. Man, this was crazy. Saint Lincoln had double the population of Meadows, I couldn’t even see straight without a face in the way. I launched into the crowd, adjusting myself to fit with the direction everyone was moving in. Twisting and turning, I somehow was able to get to the other side of the room. People all around me were like animals, thrusting towards the papers other students gave out. I approached a lonely table, isolated from the others. Another sheet above it, giving the letters M – R, with last names. As I approached, a girl a few years older than me gazed into my eyes.

“Last name?” she called. The noise in the building was very loud and it was hard to make out what she was saying.

“Last name!” she yelled in an attempt to be heard over the crowd..

“Parker,” I told her lightly. I seriously sounded like an idiot at this point. The girl checked through her stack of papers, rustling through each one like garbage. Paper by paper, she flicked it with her overgrown nails and stopped suddenly.

“Here you go, Oliver,” Swiftly, she held out a thin piece of paper as I lightly grasped it with my own hands and took it away from her. I jousted away from the crowd, avoiding all of the hassle as I stepped onto a set of white and purple stairs. The stairs sloped upwards and led to an unknown territory of fear, memories and exploration. This was high school, a new place for people who want to expand or just drop out. As I was about to go up, I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I swiveled around.

“I see you got your schedule,” the person drawled. I breathed in a bit, a feeling of relief washing over me. It was just my best friend, Carter Green. Carter at first seems to be a rather stubborn and mischievous person, but when you get to know him, it’s the complete opposite. His cerulean eyes and short blonde hair stood out the most. He flashed a cheeky grin, patting me on the shoulder in a friendly manner.

  
“You scared me for a second.”

“Why? Nervous about high school?”

“Sort of. Aren’t you?” I asked Carter. The hallways of pale and white degraded  past me while we continued to walk.

“My cousin is a senior here, so I’m already guaranteed safe. But enough about me, what’s your schedule like?” Carter seized my schedule. I tried to reach it but my attempt was futile. He was 6’2, about five inches taller than me so it was no use. He slowly opened the paper up and began analyzing it carefully.

“Hey, we have 1st and 6th together!” he exclaimed in happiness.

“That’s nice...” I mumbled. I wondered what my 1st and 6th even were. I snatch back my paper and glanced at it. 1st: Honors World History. 6th: Advanced English 1-2. Pretty decent classes. I smiled, putting the paper into my low cut pocket and continued to walk. The room number we were looking for was 214. I glanced around the hall and spotted room 207. We were getting close.

“How did you spend your summer?” Carter asked me.

“Sitting around and I helped my mom with some work around the house. How about you?” I replied in a tone of exhaustion. I'm not a morning person at all.

“I did some track camps this summer. Otherwise, nothing, Olly.”

I really hated that nickname. When we first met, Carter had problems saying my name because he was four at the time, so Olly stuck with him. He’s the only one I let call me that, because otherwise I would scream and burn people faster than California wildfires. With all the rambling, Carter stopped short as we looked up at room 214. I glanced at the clock. 7:25 AM. In five minutes, school would begin. I looked up at the dull orange door, the numbers 214 were a bright white, contrasting with the fading apricot color. I wrapped my fingers around the metal knob, feeling a cold sensation run through my fingers while I opened the heavy door.

The classroom was quiet and very spacious. Desks lay in order of brown and beige color, similar to the ones at Meadows. Masks of different colors lay facing from the wall, seemingly staring at our movements. I walked into the empty room, confused. The teacher was nowhere to be found.. Carter walked by and focused his attention on the board.

“Here’s our seating chart,” he stated. I looked over and a picture of each student in the class was placed, matching the consecutive order of the desks lined up.

“No need to just stand there.” I heard someone say. I turned around and saw a figure who was about ten years older than me. Her lush brown hair trailed down her back and her pale skin seemed to glow. Her pewter eyes shone enthusiastically as she blinked.

“I’m your world history teacher, Mrs. Gibbons. You must be Mr. Parker!” she exclaimed happily. I’d never met this woman before. How the heck did she know my name? Maybe she is mistaking me for someone, like a brother or sister.

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Gibbons,” the only words that traversed from my lips. She smiled back at me and approached her crimson desk slowly. The loud cries from other students inside the hallways flooded into my ears as people started to flow into the room. Conversations bounced throughout the walls and echoed mindlessly into my ears as the clock ticked by slowly. I placed myself in the farthest seat on the left in the third row. Carter sat right next to me, just like last year in history. I turned myself towards him.

“So why are you suddenly in honors classes?” I asked him.

“I wanted to challenge myself even more, I had way too much free time last year. I was either at track or hanging out at your house.” he shrugged and gazed outside. Our class was on the 2nd floor so we had a view of the front of the school. Some students were running through the door at the last possible minute.  
The school bell chimed at exactly 7:30 AM, as a speaker blasted on. A dull, groaning voice spoke through it, connected to everyone in the school, welcoming the students, faculty and staff back to Saint Lincoln. We all stood up simultaneously to do the pledge of allegiance, repeating the same words we have been since grade school, then sat down. The voice droned on about other things that were irrelevant to me. Finally, the announcements had ended and 1st period was now in session.

“First thing I want to say is you are all freshman now. You are not in middle school anymore, you’re leaving that all behind. Whatever happened there, stayed in there. We are going to learn together and stick together, as a team”. People all around the room cheered and applauded, Mrs. Gibbons and her words were inspiring to the freshman class as everyone started to discourse in excitement.

“She’s pretty cool!” I heard Carter say to people behind me. Right as Mrs. Gibbons was about to speak, her door slammed open. A girl of about my size but a little smaller stood, her brown hair reached to her upper back while her white skin glimmered in the dawn light. She blinked, an eye lash escaping from the depths of her blue eyes. She shifted from foot to foot, looking around as the class stared back at her.

“Can I help you?” Mrs. Gibbons asked politely. We all continued to look at this girl in awe.

“I was assigned to your class, sorry I’m late. Where do I sit?” she replied simply. Her voice was pitched like a librarian, calm and collected. Mrs. Gibbons checked the seating chart and looked my way.

“Ah, Ms. Kathy Martinez, you sit right next to Mr. Parker!” She pointed to the empty seat at my right. Kathy turned her head in the direction Mrs. Gibbons pointed, then moved slowly and steadily to the desk next to me. She plopped her things down in no hurry and edged the seat closer to her desk, the screeching noise bounced back at me as I cringed. Kathy must have noticed, because she stopped short and gazed into my facial expression of terror as the noise traveled. The class kept staring, wide eyed, at her as if she were an animal brought in for an exhibit to kids. I shrugged and looked at her.  
“I’m Oliver, nice to meet you!”

No reply.

“Where are you from?”

Silence again..

“Is this your first year?” Of course it was Oliver.

Maybe she was deaf. I shrugged, feeling awkward in this position. I could feel some eyes on me from behind as they watched me attempt to converse with Kathy.

“Uh, I like your hair?” I said stupidly. This must have caught her attention, but not in a good way because she just glared at me in response.

“It would be wise if you just ignored me. I already don’t like you, and if you continue to talk at me, the matters of this could get worse.” Kathy stated loudly in front of everyone. I slouched in my seat, backing away from her as much as possible. During our little chat, Mrs. Gibbons had continued writing on the board, acting like nothing was happening as she did so. Carter tapped my shoulder lightly. I turned towards him.

“Nice job on the first impression!” he whispered sarcastically. Sometimes I wondered if I had a charm that made a lot of people instantly dislike me.

“I just wanted to be a good person, go me..” I looked at Kathy as she gripped her pencil and opened her notebook. Mrs. Gibbons was elaborately telling us what this class would require from us as people in general. I pushed the mechanical pencil swiftly against my notebook, copying down the notes from the white board. The words reflected back at me: “Get along with other students!” Great. I already failed one of my first assignments. I glanced at Kathy as she continued to write, not paying attention to anyone. I had such a great start for my first day here. I dropped my pencil, lifting my arms over my head as I stretched with endeavor. My mind wasn’t really paying attention to school, I was in another frame of thought, thinking about other things going on, whether it be at home or elsewhere. I could imagine my mom, working hard at the office right now as she answered calls in a flash, repeating over used words. And to think, I have to go through four more years to enter another four more years, just to escape into a decent job.

Well, this sucks.  
  
School had passed slowly, but I somehow got through the vigorous day. I was really taking a liking to my English class. English had always been my favorite subject in school. My teacher, Ms. Bushido, was really kind towards us and told us about all the books we were going to read. One of which, being my favorite: To Kill a Mockingbird.

I snapped out of my thoughts, recollecting the fact that I was supposed to be doing my homework. I scowled down at the piece of paper in front of me with questions and words on it. They seemed to glare right back at me. Obviously, we both didn’t want to do this. I placed my palm against the black headset that hugged my head. The piano that was playing danced inside my mind as I tried to concentrate on my homework. “I can’t do this!” I yelled out.

“Do what?” my mom’s voice chimed from behind me. I gently removed my headphones, letting them wrap around my neck.

“These stupid survey questions for my health class. They ask me what I’ve eaten in the past week, how can someone remember that clearly?” I complained.

“Let’s see, last Monday you had pasta, Tuesday you had some omelets you cooked, Wednesda-“ she cut short, noticing the displeased expression that was painted on my face. She chuckled under her breath and smiled as usual. “I’ll just let you finish your work. Goodnight, Oliver!” she exclaimed closing the door lightly. I glanced at my paper again and sighed. I didn’t feel like answering questions at the moment. I let out a huge yawn that blurred my vision.

The night was rough. So many thoughts were rushing through my head at once. Eventually, a cloud of drowsiness overcame me and managed to put me to sleep. But something was strange as my mind was quietly going. A feeling of vertigo overcame my spirit, engulfing every last bit of me. The sounds I once heard had long departed now.  
  
I slowly opened my eyes to be greeted with an overwhelming flash of white.I couldn’t see straight. It felt like I was awoken from a horrendous thunder. As my eyes adjusted to the light and I was comfortable with fully opening them, I looked around and saw miles of silvery color that lay across the ceiling and walls. Where was I? Everything I saw was a pure abyss. I must have been dreaming, there was nowhere I knew of that was like this. I noticed I was standing on a gray covering that reachedacross for miles as well. I took in my appearance; I was still wearing my bright red shorts that reached my knees and an abstract black shirt. Even my white socks had not changed. Nothing did. I pressed my hands against my temple, stirring my dark brown hair out of the way of my hazel eyes. This place was empty, alone, and abandoned. It seemed like nobody had been there in years, maybe even never. I strolled along to the right, allowing myself to take in my surroundings. My pacing continued lightly as I thought to myself. I’ve had many strange dreams throughout my life, but this takes the cake.

“There is nothing over there, it’s just more white.” I heard a semi high pitched tone. I spun around, searching for the voice that spoke to me. Was I just imagining things now? “Down here!” the voice called again.

I snapped my eyes downward and saw a figure before me. It was a blue flame that swirled in different directions with a lighter inner fire that blazed in its center. Two black dots hovered inside the fire as well, looking directly into my eyes. Two black streaks lay above the dots, wiggling around in curiosity. Under the flame was a black tuxedo that gave off a very prestigious look, with black leather shoes and white gloves that shone brightly. The figure had no mouth, from what I could see. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, actually.

“What, have you not seen an imp before or something?” the figure spoke again with a more stern tone, standing at about half my height.

“I’ve never seen anything like you before…” my breath was caught in a mix of reverence as well as dread. Its dots must have been eyeballs, as they darted wildly, inspecting my attire.

“You really are interesting, I can see it within you,” the imp replied. I had no idea what the heck this thing was saying. I thought it was male, the sheer voice was raspy, but not too squally.

“Uh, question. Where the heck am I?” I aired this thing, my eyebrows knitting together in suspicion. This place was starting to feel creepy, the imp thing wasn’t helping much either.

“What do you mean, per say?” the imp raised his eyebrow...things and appeared to contemplate something. Suddenly, his feet ascended off of the ground as his body started to rise. I drew back in shock. “You can fly too?! What the hell! What can you things do? Oh, never mind, that’s for later. Where am I?!” I snapped impatiently.

“Surely you know what my answer will be again,” he paused. “What do you mean exactly?” he echoed. I was going to reach for his collar, but the flames seemed as if they would just burn my hand off completely.I rather liked my hands.

“Ignoring the stupid questions, I want you to have this,” the imp held out a square like object with different engravings on the exterior. A blue aura veiled it, its light glowing weakly. At least the object lookedfriendly. The imp pushed the cube more towards me, its eyes seeming to sear into mine. I reluctantly took the cube, tearing my gaze away from the imp’s. He happily descended back down to the ground.

“What is this?” I asked as I eyed the object with closer inspection.

“All of your answers you seek will come in due time, Oliver Parker. I want to stay and chat, but it seems your dream waves are becoming disrupted. For now I must go, but you will know what to do with the cube later.” the imp started to float from the ground and go a farther distance away from me.

“How do you know my name?” I called after it. But it was too late, the imp had vanished into the abyss, and everything slowly started distorting. My mind had started to go blank as I closed my eyes, letting the darkness take over.

  
The sun beamed in from the shades when I abruptly sat up. I trolled alongside my bed, 6:30 stared back at me in light green colors from my clock.All of my surroundings started to look familiar as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. Oh good, all of that was just a dream. Raising myself from my fluffy and comfortable bed, I felt something poke my left hand. I quickly freed my grasp from the feeling.

The black cube lay intact, sitting in my palm with its light blue aura glowing faintly.          


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be flying out to Colorado Springs this Tuesday, so there will be a week break before Chapter 3 comes up. I hope you all enjoy!

I thought to myself for what seemed to be a perpetuity, lost in the mystery of the black cube I was holding. Nothing seemed to be adding up, what exactly happened last night? The imp’s prospering voice frolicked around in my head, all of my questions would be answered in due time he told me. But what does this cube mean anyway? I scanned the cube inquisitively with my eyes, looking into the blue aura that submitted itself from the object. Mrs. Gibbons continued to talk through the assignment from yesterday when I looked back up at the white board. The day had just begun, a slow start though. Suddenly, a hand tapped at my shoulder. I looked back to see Carter, his face sprouted worried.

“You alright dude? I see you looking into that cube a lot,” Carter whispered to me. The blue aura was dripping out of my palms lightly, not causing a bright flash though.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about it,” I reassured Carter. He wouldn’t believe me for a second if I told him about my story with the imp and how I got the cube. He lamented for a second and adjusted himself back into his seat. I stared back at the board, copying the motions Mrs. Gibbons made on her piece of paper which directly matched ours with my mechanical blue tipped pencil. But no matter what, I still had my mind on the dream from last night. Just who exactly was the imp? Also, what inner thing was he talking about? A glimpse of action caught my eyes as I noticed Kathy was also studiously working on her paper. All of her notebooks and papers were organized adjectively on her desk compared to most of the other students in the classroom. Funny how such an organized and knowledgeable girl can have a cold personality raveled deep under her flesh. Gotta love high school. I drew back the attention to my paper and started copying down the notes on the board. We were discussing the social effects from Ancient Egypt at the time, learning about the three ancient river valley civilizations. I started to drift off in my mind, contemplating about how the Egyptians built the pyramids and all of the labor they had to use. For their time period, it looked like they had more self diligence than we do. A decrease in the past thousands of years.

Something hit my mind when I glanced over at Kathy. She reached into her light red backpack that slouched over on the side, stirring wildly as some red lights slowly materialized. Kathy pulled out a cube with a red aura that looked directly similar to mine as she inspected it closely just like I did. How in the hell does Kathy have the same cube that I do? No, it’s not the same. This one has a red aura surrounding itself while mine was blue. Some of the engravings on the object were different from mine as well. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, did she meet the imp also? Many questions raced through my mind as Kathy slowly raised her hand.

“May I use the restroom, Mrs. Gibbons?” she politely asked.

“Sure, just be sure to make it back on time Ms. Martinez,” Mrs. Gibbons continued back at the board. Kathy paced to the door and opened it, vanishing in a second. This was my chance to confront her! I also raised my hand as well, Mrs. Gibbons eyed my actions.

“May I use the restroom as well?” I requested.

“Well, alright Mr. Parker. But no dilly dandling!” she responded with a delighted tone. I got up, ignoring the eyes that shot directly at me while I ambled to the door. Going through, I looked around quickly and stared at the hallway. I had to confront Kathy, now was the only time! I started to scurry down the hallway, looking in any direction Kathy might be in. A whip of brown hair coated itself by the wall as I noticed it. I turned the direction and ran down the hallway with the braise covered walls and purple diamonds ornamented alongside it.

“Kathy!” I roared. She stopped her movement in her tracks, looking back towards me. I could see her glaring her eyes a bit as I approached her.

“Didn’t you listen to my warning? I don’t like you, how hard is it to understand that?” she coldly replied. If it wasn’t about the cubes right now, I probably would have scolded her silly.

“You have a cube too, I saw it!” I prolonged. Her eyebrows shot up a bit but she continued to be ignorant.

“A cube? What are you talking about?” her tone was growing a little colder. I put my hands into my coat pocket and pulled out the blue cube with the aura admitting around it.

“This one, you have one too. Don’t lie to me, you have a red one,”. Kathy drew back a bit, surprised by the object. She looked both directions and down the hall, slowly pulling out her cube as well. The red light shined with the same power of light as mine. “So you met with the imp as well?” she asked. Her pitch had lightened up now.

“Yes, he didn’t make any sense at all,”

“He told me to be aware of my surroundings, I guess this was what he meant,” she looked back at her cube and then into my eyes.

“Listen, I want you to meet me on the roof for lunch. We can talk about everything up there, it’s best not to do this during class. Is that okay?” Kathy placed the cube back into her black coat pocket.

“Sounds good, I’ll meet you there as quick as possible,” I smiled a bit, she was finally talking normally. Kathy paced by me in the direction to the classroom when she stopped for a moment. “Also, Oliver..” I turned around towards her.

“I’m sorry for being rude towards you,” she walked away in a hurry.

 

By the time the lunch bell had rung, I was already in a hurry. Running jaggy through the anxious crowd, I pursued the staircase that led to the roof. I needed to get there as quick as possible, Kathy was waiting for me. While pacing studiously, I pulled out my cube and looked into it. The aura was still shining the same from 1st period, good. What happened to me last night, Kathy also shared the same experience.

After twists and turns through the maze of the school (Took me forever, so many doors and passageways) I had arrived in front of a door with the words roof labeled onto it. Grasping the handle, I opened the door with some force and walked out onto the roof. Most of the clouds had started to vanish, only leaving a few left to scurry around. The sun was pitched in the center of the sky, spotlighting the world under its presence. The colors of gray and silver also were painted on the ground, with black lining that beholden long tiles. Across the lengthy roof, a girl with brown hair that danced in the gales stood. She looked behind, noticing my presence as I walked forward.

“Sorry for the wait Kathy, I got lost a bit trying to get here,” shaking my head in embarrassment. She tilted her head a bit and chuckled a bit. “At least you made it, I thought you forgot,”.

“I’m not that bad as a person. But moving on, about the cubes,” I pulled out my object and played small catch with it, tossing it up in the air and catching it. Kathy thrusts her hand into her pocket, pulling out hers as well. The red aura was shining just as bright as well.

“So we both met with the imp in a dream, correct?” Kathy asked.

“Yeah, the place we were in was interesting as well. The abyss was endless and everything just seemed to go on forever,” I started to remember the world I was in. Everything was empty, quiet and just abandoned. Kathy nodded slowly, drawing her attention towards the cubes.

“He obviously wanted us to have these, but for what purpose? I tried to ask him but he just vanished,” I continued.

“Oliver, may I see your cube for a minute?” she called to me. I walked a bit closer to her and slowly handed the cube over. She inspected it closely, comparing the results from her cube to mine.

“Some of the engravings on yours is a bit different compared to mine. The color as well, obviously. But they seem to come from the same source, whoever made this,” she looked like a diligent professor, comparing the two. Kathy was obviously very knowledgeable in general, I could tell by the way she copied all of the notes quickly. I consider myself smart too, of course. But Kathy was just on another level.

“This is honestly pretty interesting, I haven’t came across something fun like this in a while!” she exclaimed. Wait, this was fun to her?

“I’m just curious to know if I am still dreaming or not,” I replied. Everything just felt like a dream, but I knew I was in reality.

“I enjoy challenges, it’s who I am,”.

“I can see that, may I have my cube back please?” I asked kindly. Kathy looked at me like I was an idiot and looked back at the cubes. “Just give me a minute, I need to compare something else about these things,”.

“How about I just take it now!” I was starting to grow impatient. I quickly reached my hands over to my cube as Kathy tried to avoid it. She twisted and turned trying to avoid my hands while I reached for the cube. When I got a hold of mine, I pulled it back to me when I accidently clipped her cube a bit chastely.

“Wait, Oliver. Do that again!” Kathy roared. I placed my cube against hers and suddenly the aura changed from blue and red to both white. The color started to get brighter as I pulled back the cube in shock. The colors quickly changed back to normal.

“What the heck? Why did they do that?” I looked down at the blue cube. Everything seemed normal again, but there was definitely some reaction that occurred.

“Try placing it against mine again, and hold it to see what happens,” she groaned a bit. Slowly, I move my cube towards hers, gratifying each. The color again turned to white, growing brighter and brighter.

“Is this safe?” I yelled at Kathy while she looked enthusiastically at the light as it got brighter and brighter. I shielded my eyes for safety of not going blind. Suddenly, the cubes quickly turned even brighter and light started to form. I heard Kathy shriek a bit as the light engulfed both of us, everything starting to turn light. I forced my eyes shut, feeling everything swirl around me like I had vertigo. My conscience started to fade and I continued to drift away, feeling absolutely nothing.

 

Forcing my eyelids open, pure white surrounded me. My mind and body were frozen, I could barely move. I couldn’t even talk. My senses slowly came to me as I started to realize where I was again. This was the same feeling from last night, the same emotions over me from my first time entering. I was back in this world. Propping myself upward from the position I was in, I noticed Kathy was placed right next to me, her brown hair covered her backside with that black coat veiling her back. Suddenly, her figure started to move, she was coming to her senses as well.

“Kathy, look around,” I replied in awe. I really don’t know why, but this world brought me to a fascinating feeling. The emptiness that surrounded me, the feeling that I was the one who seemed to have create this world. I don’t know why, but this feeling just chimes inside me. And for some reason, I can honestly say that I have a sensation where I have been to this place before, ignoring my encounter yesterday.

“Were back in that world, aren’t we?” she placed herself upwards, brushing the hair out of her eyes and gazed around. After standing up slowly, I threw my hand into my coat pocket, picking up my cube. It was back to its normal blue color, before connecting with Kathy’s. Kathy also stood up as well now, glancing around at the abyss veiling us.

“Are we dreaming again?” I asked. I felt a sharp edge of pain as Kathy grabbed some of my skin and pulled it, pinching my wrist. I jolted back, lightly grazing my wrist.

“What was that for?!”

“You asked if we were dreaming, so I pinched you to make sure we weren’t,”

“That usually doesn’t mean you pinch someone!” Kathy started to smile wryly, chuckling a bit at my expression. I quivered myself down a bit, walking past Kathy through the whiteness. I’m sure the imp was somewhere here, probably hiding with all of the emptiness. But I still couldn’t shake this feeling. Why do I have a sensation I’ve been here before, a long time ago? As I thought to myself, a shadow passed by me as I looked over to my right. A blue flame lifted near my face, the same outfit I recognized.

“I knew you two would be back eventually,” the imp, or sprite really, caressed his hands together as he floated backwards.

“How are we back here? What exactly do you want from us?” I demanded. He started to float towards us now, his eyes adjusting to us.

“First, I want to apologize for not introducing myself earlier,”

“You can apologize for more than that,” I added on. Kathy lightly hit my arm, giving me the “You shouldn’t have said that” look.

“My name is Solana, I’ve already said I was an imp, but my occupation is watching dreams and balancing the flow of thoughts here,” he continued on. Watching dreams? That doesn’t really make sense. I guess it explains how I met Solana in a dream.

“Dreams? What do you mean you watch them?” Kathy beat me to it.

“Allow me to show you,” Solana thumped his hands together, letting a light shine in his palms. The ball of light expanded into a square as an image started to form through. In the square, a little girl was running through flower fields. The girl looked to be Hispanic as she danced with the flowers as they were blowing everywhere. The scenery was beautiful, like I was actually right by her. “You see, this place is called the Dream Realm, my kind has access to other people’s dreams to make sure everything is in order,”. A Dream Realm. That sounds like a place ripped directly from a children’s book. This place, only where our dreams could go.

“So wait. If this place is where you observe our dreams, how did Kathy and I originally get here the first time?” I was curious about our existence and being here. This place is where you can observe everyone’s nocturnal visions, so how did we get here?

“I was able to take your mental body before entering into a dream and pull it over to this realm. Normally a human cannot enter here, ever. But you two possess a strong power within you that lets you travel over here. This power also lets your physical body enter the Dream Realm,” Solana explained. All of this information I was learning was starting to pile on hard. I mean, what if you found out everything you learned in dreaming was actually false and you were told you had “a strong power within you” and can enter this world? Think about that, think very hard.

“A Dream Realm, a place where our dreams come through. A place of observation. I would have never guessed a place like this existed!” Kathy sounded excited in her voice as she looked around. “But don’t you have any friends here? It seems awfully hard to manage six billion dreams or so without any help,”.

“Actually, I really don’t know. You see…” Solana trailed off, looking a little sorrow as he glanced down. “My mission was to watch over the Dream Realm. I’ve never met anyone up here like me,”. Kathy looked towards me in disbelief and sorrow, I sort of felt bad for Solana. I wonder how many years he’s just been here, purely alone of his own kind.

“Kathy, Oliver, try placing those cubes against your chest,” Solana asked kindly. His tone was more higher pitched than usual, giving the vocal range. I looked at Kathy as she nodded slowly. We placed the cubes against our chest area lightly, standing still.

My cube suddenly started to shine very light blue. I felt a cooling sensation wrap around my chest and realized a blue color wrapped all around my body. I closed my eyes quickly, the stretching sensation reached all around my head now too. A little heavier weight tipped onto me as I nearly lost balance from the sensation. The colors had started to clear and the light slowly faded when I opened my eyes. To my surprise, I didn't teleport again. I looked around and glanced down, my jaw dropped completely.

I was unexpectedly standing in a white authentic swordsman overall with blue stripes around it. My shoes were tipped with pearl streaks of blue now, everything was completely different. Placing my hand behind my back, I felt something nudge against it. I pulled a piece of white leather to my front. A pure white cape that dropped to my upper thighs was latched behind me. What the heck? I suddenly looked like one of those cartoon heroes you see on tv. When I glanced towards Kathy's direction, her appearance changed too, even more than me. Her hair was completely changed to a light velvet red, even her hair was wrapped into a ponytail, but it complimented her new ruby colored eyes that shined. She wore a red blouse with black underlining that stretched and wrapped her body. Under the blouse was a red and white skirt that reached to her upper knees. Long black socks rose up to her knees, leaving the small skin showing between the skirt and socks. She looked terrified, inspecting her outfit.

“Oliver! Your hair! Your hair and eyes are blue!” Kathy yelled at me. I pulled my hair down to see a shimmering blue color, and my eyes must have been blue as well. I was starting to freak out now. I’m not a big fan of hair color change, I liked my brown hair.

“Solana! What the hell! What are these outfits for?” I raised my voice. I kept inspecting my clothes, it looked really weird.

“You see, these attires are for people who fight nightmares. A Nightmare Hunter for short. I want you both to become Nightmare Hunters!”.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Colorado Springs was pretty fun, lots of things to do (I went hiking and went to the movies and saw lots of cool new buildings compared to Washington) but now I'm back. School starts again on September 4th (Junior year in High school, cannot wait to graduate already. Two years to go!).
> 
> Enjoy Chapter 3~ and thank you for waiting.

I paced myself backwards, appalled by Solana’s words. A Nightmare Hunter? What in the world? I turned my sight towards Kathy, she looked dazed as well. Well then again, everything was confusing. We get pulled into a world that’s called a Dream Realm and are told about how we have a special inner power inside. Honestly, this day does not make sense. 

“Nightmare Hunters? What are those? They sound like a cheesy motorcycle gang to be honest,” Kathy started to converse with Solana as she clicked her red Nike like shoes together, impatiently. 

“Allow me to explain, if you don’t mind.” I heard a new voice chime into the conversation this time. Footsteps bounced around into my ears as I turned back. A stature of a man who looked to be my age stood before us three. His outfit looked similar to Kathy and I, wearing a black maroon overcoat with yellow stripes wrapping and strangling onto himself. Similar, his pants were pure black with yellow stripes leading down on the side to his black shoes, looking directly like they were out of a fashion catalog. His hair had a lemon color that look combed and fixed to be straight. He had eyes that gave off a hazelnut gleam, matching with his black framed steel glasses.

“And who are you?” I stared at him. He looked at me and smiled, holding out his hands. In typical reaction, I nicked at his hands with my white gloves and shook firmly.

“My name is Zackary Von Skornav, just call me Zack for short.” he shook my hand and then went directly to Kathy as well, shaking her hand. This guy seemed like he was from a completely different time period, his manners were very advanced for someone who looks to be our age. 

“So, Zack. What do you mean you can explain?” Kathy questioned, she was staring right at Solana, not letting go of her target. Zack just laughed lightly, disregarding the displeased expressions that eyed him (Besides Solana. Again, those eyes make me wonder if he's blind). He was trying to let the atmosphere lighten up after the erupting news of Nightmare Hunters and our new outfits. 

“Dreams are memories a person has, correct? Nightmares are a memory someone doesn't want to remember, or something they remember but in the darkest form ever. But there are some cases where a nightmare comes from a memory that was suppressed from long ago. More than likely it’s from a traumatic experience they are remembering again,” he explained to us as if he taught a class on Nightmare Hunting 101. Solana nodded in agreement and glided towards Zack, forming his hands together as he floated lightly around the boy of honey yellow.

“And this is where a Nightmare Hunter comes in! Do you ever notice every now and then how someone young dies in their sleep? Their death is rather unknown, to bluntly put it,” Solana said. I started to shiver a bit, the talk of dreams and death in the same sentence started to get me worried about sleeping. “Those nightmares, also called Temporal Dreams, overtake their subconscious and destroy their mental body, which in turn stops the physical body. A Nightmare Hunter can enter into those Temporal Dreams with their physical body and stop them from consuming the person in whole.”.

That explains the new attire, I suppose. I glanced back down at my swordsman suit and looked over at Zack. He must have been a Nightmare Hunter, but I wonder how long. The whole concept sounds extremely dangerous and very risky, and I’m honestly still confused.

“Why were we chosen? To come here and be asked, I mean.” I asked. Solana gawked towards my direction and kept quiet. Silence filled the world for a while. He kept to himself, thinking very quietly while Kathy also looked interested from my question. 

“To simply put, you and Kathy have a special mental connection that only a Nightmare Hunter can possess. It’s a strong power of the mental body that not many people have. That’s how I was able to sense your strength from here. It’s truly a blessed gift you both have,” Solana floated around both of us and his eyes scanned closely. What was he always looking at? But I never really thought about my mental body, or whatever that was. Did I really have something that powerful about me? I was still gawking in disbelief, this all seemed like a giant hallucination. Shrugging forward, I stared at Kathy who was wearing the same face I was about this whole concept. 

“How often do Temporal Dreams occur? Also, how exactly do you fight them?’ Kathy stir in her stance. She was starting to sound interested in the idea, I wonder why. You wouldn’t think someone of Kathy’s stature would have an interest in doing fantasy things like fighting nightmares or whatever. It sounded cool, but the whole concept of possible death didn’t sound fun to me as this was our physical bodies we are talking about. 

“Generally, once every three or four days. They are not a daily burst, so you usually only need one Nightmare Hunter to patrol, usually,” he started to trail off. He looked down as his eyes grew with sorrow, but he picked himself up emotionally and continued. 

“We fight, using specialized weapons depending on our aura,” Zack pulled out a cube quite similar to Kathy and I’s, with a yellow glow around it. He held out his left hand when a pole like object started to form with glowing bright colors of yellow. As the pole appeared, a sharp metal wide tip surfaced on the top, creating the formation of a spear. He spun the spear around him, flipping it through his hands. “Like for example, my weapon is the spear and I use this to fend off,”.

So the light on the cube is our aura color. I plopped my hands open with my cube as it was glowing aqua blue still. “What does our auras mean?” I asked.

“Yellow means intellectual, red means vitality and blue means devotion for your aura standards,” Solana explained. Honestly, the whole aura thing is confusing. How do they relate to our mental bodies? But here I go again, thinking useless thoughts.

“So, what happened to the other Nightmare Hunters?” Kathy bluntly spoke. She broke the ice on that question pretty quickly. 

“Most of the time, the ones who do fight, pass away in battle..” Zack looked away. There he goes again, his eyes were looking really sad. I ignored the thought and looked over to Kathy. Her interest suddenly decreased a bit, even she looked a little scared. 

“Recently, the nightmares have been becoming more dangerous than usual. So with last resort, we are asking for you guys to join Zack and help fight off Temporal Dreams from people. What do you say?” Solana jumped around, now on the ground. I looked at Kathy, she gave me the same response that I had. This seems like a once in a lifetime thing for most people, but it’s very risky. I could end up dead and nobody would know where I was. Zack must have saw our looks, because he wrapped his arms around Kathy and I’s shoulder.

“I can completely understand this is a huge offer you guys have on your hands. If you would like, I don’t mind taking you on a hunt tomorrow, to show you some of the basics and if you really want to become a Nightmare Hunter. Is that okay with you both? I've been doing this for three years now, I have some good experience!” Zack looked towards us. He looked really ecstatic towards the idea of us coming. To be honest, he seems like a trustworthy guy. If all else fails, we could turn back into these forms and fight for our life, then decline and never come back again. 

“I’m not sure about this though, it’s kind of a big offer…” my sentence trailed off as I looked towards Zack’s face of desperate need. Something about this guy bugged me, but not like it was bad or anything. Like, a mysterious feeling you get when you look at someone. It's like he was putting on an act.

“Okay, I’ll go. It seems interesting.” I reassured Zack. He smiled wryly, shaking my body by his sheer force from his hands. I couldn't help but crack a smile as well, he’s a nice guy. We turned our heads towards Kathy who looked away on purpose.

“Well Kathy?” I poked her lightly. She turned to me with a glare and looked at Zack. She must have been really bothered about this, I’ve never seen a face like that.

“I guess, just please don’t die on me. I don’t feel like getting lost in a dream with this kid,” she pointed at me and grinned. 

“Then it’s settled. Tomorrow, after your school day is over, come to the dream realm and I can show you how everything is done!”. Looks like I would be having a date with destiny tomorrow, a fun date it will be. Zack walked away from us, releasing his grip. 

“At any rate, you guys should head back. I think your lunch time is almost over.” Zack continued. Oh god, I totally forgot about school! I tried to put my hands in my usual coat pocket to check the time, but felt air as I realized I was still in my swordsman outfit. 

“How the heck do I change back to normal?” I yelled in shock.

“Place your dream fragment against your body and just close your eyes,” Solana said this time. Following his exact words, I lightly touched the fragment.. thing onto my chest. The same blue light was trapping me again as I shut my eyes tight. I felt the weight from my armor drop off of my body and I could move normally again. The light had vanished when I opened my eyes, I was back to normal! I looked down and looked up at my hair. I was back to normal! My same clothes, same hair and everything! I missed myself so much. Wow, that sounded awkward to say. Looking over, Kathy was back to her normal stature as well. 

“Okay, thank you Solana. Now how do we go back to earth?!” Kathy looked at her watch. Time was still functioning normally in here, even without the zero service. We had about one minute left before lunch ended. 

“Just close your hands with your dream fragment, and shut your eyes,” Zack laughed a bit. This wasn’t a laughing matter, Zack. I lightly enclosed my palm around the fragment and closed my eyes. Light had shined around me, glowing brighter and brighter. And with that, in one second, everything went quiet and blank.

I couldn’t concentrate on my homework at all. Way too many thoughts were bypassing through my mind, everything about this Dream Realm stuff. I slowly plopped myself up from the desk I sat at for the last hour and gripped onto my window. I flipped the trigger, unlocking it as I opened the window widely. The cold breezes tickled my body and sent a thrill wildly. I felt as if the winds were covering myself, like the light from earlier. My thoughts were wildly charging throughout myself, the whole concept of reality changed in front of me with all of this Nightmare Hunter stuff. 

I remember as a child, I always wanted a special difference between everybody else. Not like being a celebrity, but having some sort of power that not many have. I guess like a super hero. But eventually, I came to realize that super powers were impossible and just forgot about the idea. Well, until today at least. A sigh escaped from my mouth as I lay flat on my bed, aiming my vision towards the ceiling. Shifting my arms upwards, I arrayed the dream fragment closely to my pupils, analyzing each texture closely. It felt like a maze to me, I’d never seen anything like it before. 

A world where observing dreams is easy. Being able to connect with everyone, being able to protect people. Being able to save people. To think people in the past have had powers like this all along. But why now of all times do Temporal Dreams have a sudden outburst? And what quality inside me is really different from everyone else? I shut my eyelids for a bit, picturing the dream world in my head. The many faces that step into that room, a destiny set to battle. I have to give props to the past Nightmare Hunters, the job doesn’t seem easy. Even Zack has been able to do that for three years.

Speaking of Zack, I couldn’t let go of the feeling he was hiding something from Kathy and I. Solana might know, he made him into a Nightmare Hunter after all. But what exactly was the feeling I was getting at the time? Perhaps I’m just over thinking everything. Everything that happened today seemed so fast. To some people, this opportunity would be great. So, why waste it on people like me?

While lost in my thought, I had just barely heard a slight knock at my door that thumped slightly. Breaking from my position steadily, I maneuvered myself and got up as my mom arrived into the room.

“Oliver, you have a visitor at the front door,” her face grew a little annoyed. Who would be here at 8:30 at night? Carter maybe?

“What the…? Well, alright then,” I trailed past her walking up the stairs. I heard my mom grunt, mumbling something under her breath as she followed behind me, but turned to her bedroom. I approached the door calmly. Without warning, I was greeted with a Kathy that looked back into me, about as annoyed as my mom.

“What took you so long? I’ve been here for five minutes!” she staggered inside, nearly tripping at my door. 

“Uh, why are you here? No, better question is how did you even find out where I live?” I moved backwards a bit as Kathy shut the door behind her. She drew her breath back and quietly slipped out of her loafers, placing them next to some of my shoes that were neatly lined in order for each day of the week.

“Well, I do live in your neighborhood,”. I was speechless now. But quickly I broke out of that moment.

“What?”

“I live in your neighborhood…”

“I got that! Why didn’t you tell me?” my face turned confused. The more she talked the more mysteries clotted her identity. 

“I thought you would know already. I mean didn't you notice me take the bus? Ugh, but that’s not what I came here to talk about!” she grunted. Kathy had crept up to the nearest couch and lavished into a comfortable position. 

“Do you want something to drink? Since you are here already,” I tried my best to be as nice to Kathy as possible. I’m not sure how my mom would feel with a girl being here this late. But I’m sure I could explain.

“Sure. What do you have?”

“Coffee okay?” I asked, standing near the entrance to my kitchen. She ruffled with her bangs a bit, distracted by my living room.

“Yeah, sounds good,” I heard her as I entered into the kitchen, preparing espresso. I poured two equal cups and headed back to the living room. Giving her the cup, I placed myself next to her a foot away or so, letting the warm drink mildly burn my upper lips as I drank.

“So what brings you here?” I looked at Kathy. Her face was very worrying, she looked like someone had just taken her life away from her.

“Oliver, do you want to become a Nightmare Hunter?” the words slivered out of her light red lips. Slowly setting the mug down, I thought to myself for a minute on how to answer this.

“Well, to be honest, I’m not sure. A part of me wants to become a Nightmare Hunter to help others while the other part of me wants to run away from all of this and just go back to a normal life style. It’s very complicated. What about you?” I felt better getting that off of my chest. 

“Well, I think I’m going to become a Nightmare Hunter,” her tone had changed to admiration and pride. This caught my attention as I lightly put down the cup of coffee.

“So you made up your mind? You seem different compared to this morning,” I shrugged in agreement, ruffling through my thick hair. Kathy shucked at my reaction and got up, putting down the mug forcefully. 

“What? I want to help people!” she replied. "I think if there are people who suffer from things like that, maybe we can help them, ya know? Like we can save someones life and make a family happy..." As she looked at me with a quiver of despair and pride, I heard another door open and immediately changed my face to terror. I forgot about my mom, oh lord. She walked into the living room, noticing Kathy and the cups of coffee.

“Oh I didn’t mean to interrupt your date!” she chimed out her malicious tone in humor. I felt the couch move a bit as Kathy squandered in her position. 

“It’s not a date mom, were just talking about school,” I lied. I’m not sure how obvious that was, because I felt my mom’s eyes lock into me with suspicion. But really, it wasn't a date. She just showed up on my doorstep without any sort of invitation.  
“Well, I don’t mean to ruin the fun, but it’s getting late. Do you live near, Kathy?” she asked.

“I live a few houses down, I can make it. Thank you again Ms. Parker!” Kathy smiled sheepishly as my mom nodded, walking down the hallway. I followed Kathy over to the front door as she turned around, carrying the smile from a minute ago.

“Well, I’ll see you at school tomorrow. Remember to bring your Dream Fragment!” Kathy pulled out hers, the red light glowed wildly as I smiled.

“Of course of course, good night Kathy,” I chuckled but held my breath as I shut the door, Kathy walking out. I’m still creeped out Kathy was able to find my house. Wait, how did she? Oh shoot I forgot to ask! I quickly jousted the door open, but nobody was there. 

“Still looking for your girlfriend?” my Moms voice called from behind me as I slowly closed the door.

“Oh be quiet, I’m going to bed. Goodnight!” I shouted in embarrassment. I heard her laugh like a hyena while I ran down the stairs in a hurry.  
“Goodnight, Oliver,”

 

School had gone through slowly but surely. I met up with Kathy at the roof as we both connected, going to the Dream World. At the end, Solana and Zack stood tall, looking for us.

“You made it!” Solana cried in sheer joy. He danced in the air, floating happily. I couldn’t help but crack a grin. While I was super nervous, I wanted to explore a Temporal Dream badly. A whole new world where barely any humans have access to? That sounds amazing.

“Just remember, stay behind me at all costs. I will do my best to protect you, but it should be fine. Are you both ready?” Zack looked stern, again. His words were more constricted and serious.

“Ready!” Kathy and I called out simultaneously. We sounded like we were in the military, taking drills. 

“Alright. Solana, pull it up!” Zack called out. Solana assorted through multiple boxes and pulled up one, similar to the little girls from yesterday. But the frame had a black lighting surrounding itself. The box was placed on the ground, forming a portal.

“Follow after me,” Zack said, walking through the frame. Kathy and I looked at each other and nodded, repeating Zack and going through the dark frame. 

It’s time to see what a Nightmare Hunter does.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4 is here~
> 
> So school is finally picking up, which means writing will be a little slower to put up than usual (I want to get to Chapter 8 or 9 by the end of September hopefully) and it'll take longer to upload chapters. Sorry!

The bright light from Zack’s Dream Fragment was the only sheer amount of hope you could feel in this area. The atmosphere of this place was intense, much like the Dream Realm but a lot darker. Rattling sounds bounced throughout, often following with a low pitched chime. I grasped even tighter onto my fragment, feeling the light bring warmth to my raspy palms. Kathy had approached us even closer, copying the same actions I was making.

The ground we walked on was a mixture of black and white colors. Pictures of faces that were baked in despair lay on the ground as we stepped along it. I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling away as this place looked like it was pulled out from a scary movie. Iron gates that cornered our thoughts lay at the end of the path, seeming like they were trapping us. Or trying to tell us not to go on.

“Don’t worry, I can protect you both,” Zack tried to reassure with his voice. A breath of relief was pulled out of my lips as he spoke. It’s true, he has been doing this job for years. If all things do come to worse, we can transform and fight for our lives as well.

As we continued down the dark path, I started to notice some different patterns occurring as well. Some of the deranged images that floated with the sky had taken the form of heads. Human heads, to be exact. The same expression was arranged onto their faces as they loomed onto us. Shivering a bit, I felt Kathy bump into me while we continued to walk.

“This is way too creepy…” she lifted her palms up, analyzing the room. Zack started to laugh, running his nimble fingers over the shaft of the spear. The steel tipped point collided against the ground, giving off a remorse clang while he adjusted his black framed glasses to his face muscles. I know he’s not exactly new to this, but how the hell could he be so calm? My thoughts were cut short when the stammering of chuckles and footsteps surrounded us. White cotton like balls with large black eyes danced around us, repeating some sort of chant that sounded like German to me. As I listened closer, I could make out some of the chant in the demon’s deified voice that shrieked highly.

“New blood! New flesh! New blood! New flesh!”

What the hell kind of a place was this?

“Stay behind me!” Zack called to us as he trusted his spear forward. One of the demons was struck, immediately decapitating and falling apart among contact. It’s remaining fiber like strands plopped against the ground, vanishing While their appearance was scary, they seemed to be mighty soft. He turned around and whacked a few more, but more and more of the demons kept coming. It was like an endless parade, I struggled to keep behind as I shifted backwards a bit.

“Looks like we’ve been spotted,” I picked up a voice that sounded like Solana as he quickly appeared from the darkness surrounding us. A little late to the party as usual.

“If that’s the case, then let me change up my strategy. The person we are looking for is probably deep inside the dream now, we have to get there first. So for that to happen…” Zack slammed his bottom half of the spear on the ground, leaving a loud clank that boomed wildly throughout the pathway. More and more of the cotton ball things popped up, dancing around and leaving behind some strands as they danced around.

As I cornered myself back, a lash of noise burst behind me and hooked onto one of them as they squirmed around, struggling to move. A golden chain had tightly secured one of the small demons, grasping tighter and tighter. Suddenly, the poor ball busted, strands of cotton flying everywhere and disintegrating onto the ground. More chains scuttle with speed, continuing to wrap and asphyxiate on the other cotton demons. Looking back at Zack, his left palm shone lightly with a bright yellow color as he concentrated with his right onto his spear.

“You can control chains too?!” I hollered. He thrashed his lance a little more, eventually settling down.

“Well, with just a spear most of my enemies would get away. I use my chains to slow them down so I can deal the final blow,” he winked, playfully slipping his tongue out. I seized my dream fragment even more, feeling the color give off a inviting heat. With these fragments, our power is given quite a boost. We go from normal humans to advanced fighters in just a matter of second. Zack continued to shift chains around one by one, wrapping and repeating the same overkill process. After the last move, he slowly relaxed, letting his spear fall near the ground, blasting a loud clash again.

“Exciting, isn’t it?” Zack flashed a quick smile while the remaining demons fluttered away in a scurry up ahead. I looked back in sheer pleasance clutching my fists tighter.

“What did you mean by which person we were looking for?” Kathy questioned, looking down the path that led to a brighter orange that glimmered along the horizon, inviting us to be embraced with welcoming feelings. 

“Someone in the world is having a Temporal Dream right now. We need to stop the dream from killing our target, simply put,” Solana cut in as Zack opened his mouth to answer. Zack grunted and glared lightly at Solana, then focused his attention back towards the orange that veiled the horizon.

I bet down there is where our person is. Just keep behind me like usual, but it’ll be more rough this time. The deeper we get in the dream, the more fierce each demon is. So, here is an idea,” he pulled the spear back into the side of his body, letting just the tip perch by his side while the shaft veiled itself in his garments. He wedged out his right hand, directing right towards Kathy.

“Just grab my hand and come with me. It’s a lot easier this way,” I’m not sure at this point if he was kidding or not. Looking over, Kathy quickly clutched to his hand in not even a seconds worth of thought. She smiled a bit under her hair, not even thinking about the others around her.

“I suppose I hold Kathy’s hand?” I simply asked. Zack nodded as I lightly held onto her firm palm. A spark lightly shot through my body, giving me a sense of warmth for once in the dusky and deathly horrifying place. Without even two moments of thought, Zack pulled us along the pathway while his left hand shone brightly of yellow. A rattling of chains followed behind us, Zack was trying to protect us from the outside and inside.

The more we quickly progressed down the path, the more designs and figures on the walls appeared. Now the room was a lot brighter as you could see decently. The sky was swirled in a light orange with pure white lines that looked to be exactly like pieces of string sewed onto the sky. Were these the clouds? They couldn’t be, clouds were a lot bigger, I think. Come to think of it, this whole place is covered in string or yarn. Shifting my vision around, I noticed the lonely pieces of string that tied together against the ground wryly. The patterns that once were visible now turned indecipherable, scribbles and colors splattered together against the ground. After running for quite some time, we bunged short at a certain point. I nearly bumped into Kathy as I was lost in my thoughts around the place.

“What the… how deep is this?” Kathy cried out. Freeing myself from her grasp, I looked down at what everyone was looking at.

The same strings from around us were formed into paths down this hole. Small entrance ways where cotton like demons walked around. I felt a presence that sent a shiver down my spine. It was very feint, but I could still feel it. Whatever created this nightmare was at the bottom of this ravine.

“Any idea how to do this?” my lips trembled a bit looking down into the dark abyss. The same chanting twisted into my ears from the bottom of this hell hole. Zack looked over at Solana as he closely inspected the area in front of him.

“Guess we have to play it careful,” as he threw his available hand right into the ground, glowing brightly. Extensive shackles reached from the side of the ravine, immediately directing towards a strand of strings that floated lonely against the side. The objects met, instantly forming together as a small pathway started to form. A bridge connected the strings to us, made in chains. Zack stepped cautiously onto it, shaking around in his stance to determine safety.

“Is this safe?” Kathy slowly asked as she lightly tapped her soles against the chains. They remained still, lightly gripping Zack’s shoulders. Solana wavered right by the two, grasping the chain and wiggling it fiercely. Well, he tried at least. The chains didn’t budge at all.

“Perfectly safe!” Zack commented, walking down the bridge. Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it a bridge. Just a long platform held together by multiple chains.

As Kathy and I followed, I glanced down to see multiple strings that connected towards the walls. At closer inspection, the cotton strands are much bigger than I thought. They are about the same size as the path we are walking on. A thought came rushing through my head as I noticed that within my eyes.

“Zack, are you trying to make a long bridge downwards?”. He looked at me with a purposeful grin, nodding lightly. What a foolhardy person.  

“It’ll be fine!” Solana added with a spark of hope in his voice, floating freely. Too bad none of us could really fly, so we had issues.

The edge was rough, my soles of my shoes nearly slipped while stepping onto the path. Looking down again, the ravine opened up like an engulfing mouth, sucking up cotton and spitting them out while they danced under us. To be honest, I wasn’t too happy with high heights. We paced down the path quickly, avoiding each of the strands that tied against the trail. As we got to the end, Zack quickly leaped into air, aiming down into the abyss.

“Zack! What are you-“ before Kathy realized Zack had landed on one of the strands. Even the strings in the ravine created a bridge, able to go down even deeper and beyond. I stared back in distress while Kathy nearly fell off, trying to catch her breath.

“Hurry guys! They are coming!” Solana hollered while the ground quaked lightly. Our presence in the ravine must have been noticed as I looked down.

 Tens, maybe even hundreds of cotton like spheres were charging right at us. Cotton strings were being dragged through the air as they lifted, their black eyes locking onto us while they charged directly.

“Quickly!” Zack yelled. Without second action, Kathy and I leapt from our stance and onto the string bridge while it started shaking vilely. We continued to sprint with speed down the path with full speed when a few cotton demons had sprigged upwards. A large bump appeared in their center when a large and blunt sharp tip busted out.

“Well damn. Stay behind me everyone!” he shouted to us again. Pulling out his spear from the side, Zack flanged it outward, colliding against some of the monsters. A few were shot backwards, playing ping pong against the paths and ravine walls while others melted in first impact. But as he continued to stir his spear, more of them came upwards from the darkness and transformed into mini spears.

“Zack, don’t overdo your ability. You need to save it for the bottom,” Solana advised wisely as he twisted toward him.

“What do you sense on the bottom?”

“I sense the human and the core of the Temporal Dream.”

“Then we better hurry!”

These words pasted a new expression onto Zack. He quickly sprung from the stringed path and trusted his way down. A light of bright hazelnut colors shone from the bottom as multiple chains shot downward with him. Each of them connecting together, forming a rope like formation as it burst with a super speed blast towards Zack.

“Just jump!” I barely made out his voice. I looked towards Kathy, who was as confused as I was. But what else did we have? If we stayed, the cotton demons would impale us to death.

“We’ll be safe, I hope…” she glanced downward and then back at me. Fright was written all over her face. I lightly nudged at Kathy’s shoulders, smiling wryly when some of the cotton demons overcame the veiling darkness into our sights.

“No time to think!” as I grasped her hand, pulling her down with me. A blast of wind erupted against my face, playfully spinning my hair as I closed my eyes, not being able to see well. Kathy’s high pitch shrieks of terror cut into the fall when I opened my eyes. I felt a blast, but it wasn’t wind. Something behind me was chasing after me. Did the cottons follow us? When I adjusted my body and turned it, I felt a cold sensation press against my wrist. It was Zack’s chains, they caught us in our fall. Our speed stopped to a slow halt as we were lifted down, both Kathy and I. I stared deeply and noticed Zack standing still, both of his hands glowing brightly. Thank god for him, we wouldn’t have made it out by now.

“I hope the fall wasn’t too bad,” he winked, specifically at Kathy. I flashed a bit of a grimy smile while she stammered in anger. During our session, Solana blasted in appearance right near us, lifting his black eyebrows around his flame head.

“I can sense the source behind this giant door. Are all three of you ready? Well, more like Zack. But just be ready!” he called out. Kathy and I were a few feet apart from Zack while he held tightly onto the bottom of his spear. Without warning, the door opened slowly as light cracked in from the other side. The flames around us started to light on their own, blazing up an inferno storm that mixed heat around us.

“Time for the real fun to start!” he adjusted his black glasses while walking slowly through the door. The light overcame me brightly as us four walked in together.

 

The room was covered in bright orange with mixtures of white that danced along the side. The same patterns from the beginning covered the ground, but this time it was a green overcast. The presence I had felt from the beginning of the ravine was felt majorly here, my skin shriveled in a bit of terror. Looking into the center of the dome shaped room, I noticed a shadow that seemed like a body. My eyes identified a woman with lush blonde hair and pale white skin, lying helplessly in a white gourd that covered her with minimal effort. The fact her mental body was still here meant that she was alive, I hope.

“Is that the person?” Kathy simply asked with concern written through her voice. Zack nodded a bit, cautiously approaching the helpless woman. His hand lightly shone again when a chain popped from it, wrapping tightly around the woman and lifting her to the other side near Kathy and I.

As soon as he let her down, the ground shook and quelled. The colors of Orange melted down the side of the wall when the patterns on the ground shifted positions. Strands of small cotton stretched across the room, forming into the center. Tightly wrapping around, all of the strings formed into a sphere. But the sphere kept growing, more and more the cotton was adding on. Zack jumped back, immediately pressing his hands down against the ground. A barrier formed around Solana, the woman, Kathy and I with the shackles. The color was much brighter and they were much thicker, looking bulky and sturdy.

A sphere of cotton standing about eight feet tall casted among Zack’s eyes. Two black dots that matched eyes rolled around, adjusting to the right place. It was like a yarn sprite from before, but much larger in view. About eight to ten small like strands of yarn leaked from its body and casted among the air.

“Feast your eyes on your first fiend, you two!” Solana cheered in excitement at this presence. The thing looked directly at Zack, fixating its eyes.

Within one second, the strands of yarn all strafed right towards Zack. He fixated quickly, dragging his spear across and cutting about four pieces. The other six went flying around, reversing back into direction.

“Make sure the girl is safe!” Zack yelled out while jumping. His hands shone yellow again as chains connected against the strands from the fiend. Colliding, the strands vanished while the chains wrapped around his target furiously. Cheers of excitement came from Kathy and Solana while Zack danced around, following the chains pattern that wrapped around the fiend. The way he moved, the way this seemed like second nature to him.

Zack was incredible. I was just lost in whatever he did.

After the last one, Zack quickly jumped into the air with a solid dash, reaching impossible height. He tipped the spear lightly and aimed it right at the fiend. The spear started to glow and suddenly enlarged. A drill had taken it’s form now, spinning wildly and vibrating throughout the whole room.

“This is the end!” he called out in chivalry. The drill impacted against the cotton ball with an instant second as multiple strands boomed throughout the room. The blast of strike derived me back a few feet as I collided against the wall. But afterwards, the rumbling ended and the barricade around us faded. We all ran to Zack, laughing and cheering as we embraced him.

“That was so cool! You made that fight seem too easy!” Kathy screamed in excitement while dancing around the room. The way he dealt with that in seconds, it really was truly amazing. Solana clapped lightly, getting all of our attention.

“With the fiend gone, the woman should wake up soon. We should head out before-“ when Solana cut himself off. The ground started to quiver, again. I quickly jumped back, holding onto my fragment as Zack shifted into his attack position. Was there another monster around?

The same strands of yarn collided against the center, recreating the same head. No, this head was rather different. Black stitching lay across the bottom as it wryly opened up, indicating teeth to be formed. But the quivering wasn’t over yet, in fact it started to shake more. A blast or orange and black light simmered from the bottom of the fiend, as a formation carried the ball of cotton to a high tip. A body had formed, a pure black formation with orange dots. No hands, no legs, just a flat surface and an odd shape that curled upward. Black and orange wings vested out in stretch, connecting to each side of the room.

Four black strands of stitching casted among the body as they stretched out, twisting and turning. Eventually the formation of scissors came into place as they cut into the air thick and loudly. Within one second, one of the scissors targeted Zack quickly and strikes him, throwing him against the wall as some chains vanish around him.

“Zack!” I hear Kathy call out. She tries to run to him but I quickly grasp her collar on her shirt. If she were to go closer, chances are a scissor would impale her. The fiend’s mouth let out a vicious cry masked in despair and hate as strands rolled down the mouth, the same ten strands. He was reborn now, and even more vicious. Kathy’s cries for help as she held onto the woman tightly in the corner. Zack was in bad condition from the last hit, and now this has to happen. “Solana, I need you to do me a favor,” I simply ask. He looks towards me, floating and twisting his head, nodding.

“Protect the woman for us, with all of your power. Keep her away from the fiend,” I smirk and walk right past him, ignoring his questions and calls. I told myself all today that this wouldn’t need to happen. Everything would have been just fine, I could have declined it. I would just go back to my regular school life with Carter and all of my classmates. I’ve told myself this many times, though. I wanted something that can differentia me from everyone else. Some quality that I only have. Now it’s time to test my potential.

“Let’s start this!” I hollered, thrusting the blue cube onto my chest in front of the fiend, feeling the transformation take place as blue coated me. It was Nightmare Hunting time. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School is exhausting omfg.
> 
> But thanks for sticking around~ as promised, Here is Chapter 5!

The same weight I felt from the first time dragged me down a little as I leapt from the blue shimmering light. My raspy cape flocked wildly from the wind while my new aqua hair shifted wildly as I positioned myself for combat. This time, however, something heavy drought down my arm. I quickly brought myself to look down as a two foot blade gazed back at me. The sword had a bronze handle, with a twisted and shriveled design that grasped onto the blade. I lightly tugged the sword around, feeling how heavy but forceful it was. Perfect for slashing something in one blow.

“Oliver, to your left!” I heard Solana’s voice shriek to me from the full length of the room. Quickly jumping back, one of the fiend’s four pairs of scissors struck right in front of me, snipping and creaking retentively. I barely missed that, got to be more careful. After the scissor drew back in defeat, I rushed from my stance and sprinted. But something seemed off as I continued to patter my feet. Even with all of the gear on me, I was somehow… moving faster than before. I changed my direction to the left, avoiding the big monster in front of me while he continued to thrust his scissor like hands around.

“Are you surprised? Your body is much more improved in this form,” Solana’s tone sounded cheerful while the fiend roared in horrendous disaster. I stopped my movement for a second, skidding along the rigid floor.

“So what else can I do beside run fast?” I waved my blade around, feeling like I was cutting through the air. Everything felt more nimble and free, maybe this wasn’t so bad.

“That’s up to you. I need you to stall for as long as possible while I go help out Zack, got it?” Solana yelled.  Before I could reply, he quickly vanished to Zack’s side as his hands shone blue and amended his wound. The fiend stared directly at me, I think. It’s black dots that looked like eyes shifted vigorously around while it’s scissor-like arms snipped in my direction.

Well, guess I can’t back out now.

 

Not even two seconds later and I quickly trusted myself forward, dodging the black blade that inched near my body. I blasted my blade right against its blade as well, leaving a giant clang to echo loudly, vibrating hard against my ears. I needed to keep moving. No matter what happens, even if I was hit. I had to make sure I could just stall long enough. I continued everything, slamming against each scissor as I came closer.

Inches away, I boosted upward and held out my blade, striking right against its stomach and easily leaving a mark that went in a few inches. But it wasn’t good enough as I felt a force slam right in front of me, blasting myself back into the nearest wall. Thank god for my cape, this thing must be a cushion of some sort as I barely felt the collision.

My admiration was cut short by Solana’s scream. Looking upward, four dark spikes loomed directly at me in full force. Even if I tried to reach for my sword at this point, I would be impaled directly. Well damn, that was fast. But a bursting light shot directly against all of the spikes, blasting them the opposite direction. One of the sharp objects latched onto the fiend’s stomach, the roaring screams of pain filled the room.

A red skirt that reached a foot out at the top of the thighs. Red velvet linings that stretched across her body. Rose tipped gloves that oozed a flashing sense. Kathy perched highly, positioning her crimson red and black bow perfectly. Her lush hair of shining red whipped around in its confinement of a ponytail. Whipping her arms back, a light in the shape of a nimble arrow formed, quickly releasing as she let go. The arrow danced right across me, striking against the fiend’s blade as he pulled it back.

“I’m not going to stand around, you know!” I heard her call out. She lowered her lengthening bow, quickly running towards me, scurrying about in her pinkish lace over shoes that tapped a beat along the ground. I was relieved at this point.  

“Are you guys ready to fight?” another voice cut in. This time Zack had now joined us, lightly tapping his fingers around the spear. Solana hovered around him while the fiend in front of us roared, now fixating it’s attention.

“Judging by the fiend’s movement, the weak spot is the neck. We have to hurry, we don’t have much time as well!” Solana called lastly to us before fading over to the girl laying timelessly on the side. It went from one fighter to three fighters in a matter of minutes now. Zack stepped up this time, clutching tightly onto the weapon while locking his body, ready for action.

“Follow behind me and just use your instincts,” were the last words that escaped from him before he charged in, yelling loudly while thrashing about. Kathy and I followed directly behind, taking the left and right.

A black shadow casted near while I drew my sword out. Multiple black stitching lines targeted directly near my feet, bumping wildly against the ground as I whipped my sword. Two of the strings were cut, and more continued to surround me. “Oliver, duck!” I heard Kathy’s voice cried out to me as I followed her actions. Three piercing red shots, each striking the strings and causing them to dissemble right at the spot. 

“Looks like archery classes paid off,” she sighed a breath of relief while fixating her attention upward. Zack was already climbing up the body, using his chains as a ladder of some sort to climb. Without even thinking, my whole body was jumping upward, but not normally. I felt my whole figure illuminate an aqua color while jumping, going to impossible heights as I grasped and tumbled onto the chain path. Zack stopped his actions, focusing onto me as I lay there.

“What the… how did you get here so quick?” he scrutinized me from above while I steadily got up.

“I don’t know, I’m still getting used to this power,” that tumble gave me a pretty decent headache. Over viewing the scene, I noticed Kathy tumbling around and firing arrows one by one. It was like she was a natural for this, completely familiar to this type of battle. My sightseeing visit was cut short when I noticed multiple strings surrounding Zack and I. With reaction, I pulled out my sword, cutting away a few of them.

“Oliver, go on ahead. I can take care of this.” he replied a little coldly when I turned towards him. But he met my attention, staring right into my eyes. Cold and esculent pupils that reflected agony and fury. It was useless replying to him at this point, so I quickly scattered forward and running up the chain bridge.

The room peaked from a bright orange to a crimson red now. A tranquilizing dew of blood was leaking from the fiend as I jagged my way across the path, slashing my blade away from the strings. This wasn’t so bad, you just had to be aware of what is around you. I’ve spent my whole life watching my surroundings, I guess I was made for this job.

As I trekked along, my motion increased little by little. My vision blurred, everything dancing alongside me at super speed. Looking down at myself, I noticed that my body was encoded in a blue aura, similar to my fragment. The exact same movement I felt from the jump earlier. The bridge narrowed inlay when I had reached the top, blasting into the air. Along with my sword power, I was able to apply energy into offense, defense and agility.

Looking back down at the surface, I was easily a good ten feet from the fiend’s cotton sewed ball for a head. Applying compulsion to the blade, it also turned a light aqua color as I thrust downward. The motion, the sounds, everything was too fast to compute. “I’ve got you now!” the hollering voice escaped my mouth as my blade enlarged amazingly with pure blue. Immediately, four dark blades formed a measly shield above the head while the fiend looked up.

The shield, however, didn’t last well. I grasped onto the pressure and heard the small sound of shattering as pieces of scissors flew everywhere across the room. Things had begun to chime quiet as I crevassed the sword all the way into the fiend. The tip eventually reaching the ground, still intact with the fiend inside. My fingers couldn’t help themselves as they slipped off the blade while I flew over to the right. My face tumbled directly against the ground, rolling back a few feet.

The cotton on what was left of him started to disintegrate, just vaporizing into the ground. Everything on him decayed, like it was melting under the sun. What was left of the fiend was now just strings, as my sword was carried along the sea of strings. I fetched it back, sliding it back into its original position in a case at my side. The colors of the room were now overturning to a modern sky blue, the room itself was a qualm of peace in just a matter of seconds.

“That was so cool!” I heard Kathy’s heels clicking against the marble flooring and her ecstatic tone. Zack also followed behind her, smiling in pride.

“A little reckless, but good job rookie! You both did well, it was like you guys are naturals!” Kathy and I’s face started to shade red a little, in embarrassment and happiness. This was one of the first times I’ve actually been praised moderately in my life, it felt really nice. Or maybe it was the fact that we saved someone’s life and I was a part of it.  

Maybe I can really pursue this.

With all of the chatter, Kathy pointed out towards the center at a lonesome object. A pink flower, seemingly an azalea, sprouted in the center. No dirt or water near, but it was just sprouted. “What is that?” she questioned while Zack walked over, picking the stems. Solana also appeared by Zack.

“It’s a Purification Flower. This is… well let me show you,” he lightly tapped the flower against the young woman’s head. A small flashing light emitted from the flower, traversing all throughout her body. I awed lightly to myself in mitts of astonishment.

“This flower erases any knowledge of being in the Temporal Dream, as well as the suppressed memory itself. She will go on living a life, never remembering any of this happening,” he looked down at the girl, her lips of lush pink gave off a crackling smile. She was truly beautiful in her white gourd that covered her gently.

“Do we just leave her here?” I tried to butt in, wanting to be of assistance. Solana this time scorched around me.

“When the Temporal Dream is vanquished, her mental body will revert to her physical body again. She is completely safe, but we better hurry!” he clapped his arms together, creating a mirror similar to the one from the beginning of this adventure. Solana and Zack stepped through while Kathy approached it, looking back towards me.

“Are you coming too? Or do you want to stay and risk your physical body being harmed?” Kathy raised a smirk while I chuckled a bit, nodding in agreement. I followed behind her into the gaping light while the colors around the dome started to melt. Just ten minutes ago, things were crimson blood and full of pitching terror. Now, everything was calm and peaceful. It was beautiful, like our world should be. I would love to live in a place like this.

Maybe someday I can live in a dream.

***

A couple hours had passed since the Temporal Dream and it was already 11:00 PM. But it was weird. In just three days, my life took a complete 180 and now I have a different view of things. I lightly lifted the cup of cream withered coffee and sipped it gently, feeling the sensation burn and melt inside my mouth. While drinking, I heard the pounding noises that sounded like footsteps approach with a rumble.

“What are you thinking about so late at night?” my mom’s concerning voice drifted towards me when she appeared. Her hair was rolled up tightly in violet pink scrunches. I turned towards the clock, the 11 flashing back at me.

“How do you know I’m thinking about anything?” the question deluded outside of my mouth. She passed a smirk on her face and looked back at me.

“My instincts as a mother, Oliver.” she gave off a confident laugh. “Actually, you usually drink coffee at night if you ponder on thoughts,”.

“So much for useful instincts then…”

“Oh come on, my instincts are still strong, and I bet my name: Harper Lee Parker, on that!” my mom smiled, and then sat down near the oak table. Sometimes, just sometimes, I really did enjoy having my mom talk to me like this.

Growing up, my dad left my mom and I when I was very young. I didn’t know much about the details, my mom refused to even mention his name. The only memory I have of him is when we went on a walk through some nature reservation, I don’t remember the name too well. But I was holding onto his shaky and stubby hand while my other one was clutched with my moms. It’s really strange that I can only remember that. But it’s been probably ten years since he left, times have changed. My mom never got back into dating though.

“So tell me, what are you thinking about?”

How do I exactly explain this to her? Everything going on, the decision I stand in. But Solana told me I had to keep everything a secret, even if I want to shout it to the world. Life really increased in difficulty these past few days.

“Say you had a new program on your computer that was out of this world. But there is a chance everything on your computer can blow up. It all depends on how you use the program though. Would you still use it anyway?”. The look on my mom’s face, how I wish I looked away for that minute. I heard a quiet hum beat from her mouth while she looked away in her thoughts.

“Well, yes. I would, I like to live on the edge as an office woman. Besides, if it’s out of this world then I think I can handle it, it’ll make life a lot easier for me and maybe others around me once I figure out the joust of it. Does that make sense to you?”. She looked back at me while I sipped my drink, absorbing all of what she spouted.

Figuring out the joust of it, I wonder. What if I’m able to figure out how to use my power successfully? Then I wouldn’t be so worried about death. I mean, if Zack can do it for three years then how hard could it be?

“Did that answer your question somehow?” her voice brought me back to reality, meeting the usual concerning stare. Setting down the mug, a sigh of relief escaped.

“In some way, you did. So thank you mom,” I smiled wryly as she returned the favor. The night was still rough upon us as our house was squeezed in the neighborhood. We had a view that overlooked the whole pacific bay, it was a house that was really worth owning. My mom and I loved it, and we never wanted to move from it. But there would come a day we had to sell it.

“But honestly Oliver. Why ask that question randomly?” she preceded immediately. I wanted to speak, I really did. But nothing could escape from my mouth at this point. So I did what I thought a normal person would do: lie.

“It’s for a school club. They wanted me to… join and all that. But I don’t know if it’s worth risking it, you know?”. God what a lousy lie that was. She must have noticed to, as she drawled back and let out a small sigh.

“Listen. It’s late, so I’m going to go sleep. Try not to stay up too late, alright dear?” she called while standing up. “It’s bad for your health you know, teenagers need sleep!”.

“Alright mom, goodnight.” She kissed my temple before walking away into the longing hallway. I glanced down at my half finished coffee cup, still pondering. “I’m such an idiot…” I whispered to myself. The room was overcastted with light shadows that twisted and covered the appliances in the kitchen. I was alone, like usual. All by myself.

I wonder how Kathy is taking this.

 

By the time I finally fell asleep, the clocks had already went half past midnight. I was too tired to even drag myself out of bed, I had to get my mom to force me up. But now I’m in my 1st period, just waiting for the day to be over quickly. Carter tapped my back from behind me as I turned to him. His looks grew of concern.

“Olly, are you alright? You haven’t been yourself these past few days man,” his voice sounded pleading. Was I making it that obvious? I gulped down guilt and suppression in that second.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” the bland reply oozed out slowly as he didn’t change his facial expression at all. It’s like he knew I was lying. But I guess he gave up as he retreated back towards his desk. I didn’t have time for things like that right now. My thoughts were cut short as Mrs. Gibbons strutted into the classroom with someone following behind her in the back of the shadow. He had pitch dark hair and light brown eyes that dazzled into the light. His face immured pureness through the classroom as he wore brown shaggy clothes, with cut blue jeans.

“Before we begin class, I want to introduce you to my new assistant. He’ll be here to help out in class as he is a sophomore at this school,” she proudly announced. Everyone looked at the student very carefully, analyzing all of his details.

“Please welcome, Zackary Skornav!”.

My jaw dropped as I looked at Kathy sharing the same expression I had. Zack looked towards us and winked his right eye like a mischievous devil. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello world! Here is Chapter 6, and Chapter 7 to be followed right after! Yay writing spree.

Pitch black hair with a glooming essence met my eyes when I stared at Zack. His normal form was a lot less colorful compared to his temporal form, and his clothing style was a lot more basic. He stepped up to the small podium Mrs. Gibbons had set out.

“If you need any help from me, just please come towards me after Mrs. Gibbons is done speaking,” Zack instructed while retreating to her desk, secluding himself from the classroom. Everyone traced him carefully, watching in amazement.

I thought to myself over the past few days about Zack. I always pictured him to live in the east of the world, did he always come to school here? Looking back, he was adjusting all of the papers on the desk. Kathy and I were both appalled while we looked towards him in a fixated daze.

“Do you know that guy?” Carter interrupted when he glanced back towards Zack.

“Oh no. He just looked familiar.. that’s all.” I tried to pull off the lie. Carter opened his mouth to say something but Mrs. Gibbons continued her speech as he was cut short. I looked back at the board and continued to scribble down notes. But I couldn’t get my thoughts straight. Before we started our worksheet, I waddled to Mrs. Gibbons asking if I could use the restroom. She nodded, letting me escape from the class. But before I could go down the hall, the door slammed open behind me. Zack also trailed behind, smiling.

“I can tell you seem puzzled,” he cooed in disbelief.  

“Why are you even here?”

“You sound excited to see me!” Zack mocked regarding my expulsive actions. Very funny Zack.

“I mean, did you always go here? Because if you did you could have told Kathy and I.”

“Oh no, I transferred last week. I didn’t know you guys go here until ten minutes before class started when I looked at the attendance list.” He nonchalantly tipped his head, grinning. Suddenly, the door shuts again. This time, Kathy paced towards us, sharing an expression I wore a minute ago.

“Zack! When did you-“ she was cut off by his hand swaying in front of her back in forth in an even pace.

“Long story short I transferred here last week and we can all be together to hunt nightmares together! Solana would enjoy this” we all stood back in shock a little.

“I guess this is better overall then,” Kathy filled the silence as Zack threw his arm around her, happily shaking. I guess this was nice, we have Zack around in case something comes up. But my subconscious still couldn’t shake the feeling off of Zack. No matter how nice he was, I still get that feeling.

As if everything he does is fake.

“By the way guys, is it possible if we could have a meeting after school? We can go to that Starbucks I saw out by the school. I have some things I need to talk to you about,” he quickly asked. Kathy and I just slightly nodded as we both looked at each other in a little disbelief.

“Good! And we should probably get back to class, it’s been about five minutes since we all left,” he said while I quickly checked my phone. Oh dear god he was right, not even the first two weeks of school and I already am making mistakes. Us three sprint towards the classroom and quickly pack inside before we are more late.

 

The smell of espresso’s and chatter. Oh how I loved it, it was Starbucks. Kathy, Zack and I sat at the round table facing a large glass window. We had a view of the shopping district Starbucks was in, many people passed by carrying lots of bags.

“So now that you have become official Nightmare Hunters, I want to let you guys know about some things we’ll have to work on,” Zack started talking already after we got our coffee. Kathy and I were playing with our straws while he rambled a bit.

“In order to keep up with the Temporal Dreams, we have to train you guys because not all fiends are that easy compared to your first one,” he expressed heavily. Kathy rolled her eyes and shot a glare at him.

“I think we did pretty good honestly, but will training really help with much? If we can unlock more of our powers then I am all up for it,” she spoke. I took a sip of my Caramel Latte, embracing this conversation going on.

“Who knows? When I first started as a Nightmare Hunter, I could barely use my chains for anything. I could only summon one chain max and the best I could lift was an object about the size of this chair. Not to mention I barely had experience with a spear,” Zack looked out the window feeling embarrassed. Kathy suddenly started laughing, grinning at Zack.

“You mean to tell me you sucked at being a Nightmare Hunter?”

“That’s what I am saying, yes.”

“Then why did Solana pick you in the first place?” Kathy shot at him. But Zack didn’t say anything. He looked out the window and sipped his coffee a bit, his face painted ignorance.

“I don’t know the answer myself, but that’s not really important. So I say that tonight at 7PM, we begin training!” he cut in trying to change the subject. The people at Starbucks gave us some odd looks but probably assumed we were talking about a game. Nobody in their right mind would think three 15 year olds were going into subconscious minds and training their life away.

Okay maybe some would but that’s a far statement.

“Hold up, you mean tonight?” Kathy asked nervously. Zack and I looked up from our drinks.

“Is there a problem?” Zack questioned.

“Well, no. I’m free and all.. but won’t my parents know I’m missing?”

“Oh that’s right, maybe 7PM is too early… I forget about parents and all,”

“Don’t you have parents too?” I spouted. Didn’t even think that through. But Zack laughed looking at my expression.

“I actually live alone in an apartment. My parents sent me out here for schooling and pay for my expenses. You could say I’m very lucky!” he cheered enthusiastically. How lucky, sometimes I wish I was away from my mom like that.

“Oh hell, look at the time. I need to get going!” Kathy got up transiently, almost spilling her coffee. “I should head out too. I need to finish some homework,” I also stated. We all parted our ways and walked out of the store. The fresh air shoved out the smell of our espressos as we took one final look at each other, going our separate ways.

But as I was walking, I gazed toward a figure who waved at me. It was Carter, he smiled and waved. “Hey!” he called out cheerfully. I smiled a bit and waved back.

“Yo. What are you doing here?”

“I had to do some stuff after school, just finishing up some papers,”

“Did you know I was coming from Starbucks..?” he smiled. I sighed and as I walked by, Carter tugged along right near me. He’s always been the type of person to wait, even if you take forever. I never gave him enough credit for that, because that’s something a lot of people don’t bother with anymore. Being a true friend.

“Be honest with me, Olly.” He cut in my thoughts. I was met with a persistent stare that gave me a light shiver. “What’s your relation with Kathy?”

“I’m just friends with her. Is something up?”

“No, I’m just curious” he looked away. Wait a second.. did he?

“Do you have a crush on Kathy?!” I upturned my voice a bit before he looked at me dead on.

“Wait what? No, no! I don’t have a crush on her. Kathy.. isn’t exactly my type,” his eyes wandered aimlessly. I couldn’t help but chuckle as we walked through the Wallflower court near Portland.

“Are you sure? Because it sounded like it,” I teased heart filled. Carter lightly shoved my shoulder as we crossed a sidewalk, coming near my neighborhood.

“I’m positive that I don’t have feelings for Kathy. If anyone, the girl I still have feelings for is.. Nicole,”.

Nicole Montes. Carter and Nicole dated all throughout middle school. I never really cared about their relationship, but Carter would tell me everything about it. From the dates they went on to their first kiss, everything. They looked directly out of a magazine as a “cute couple of the year” thing. Sadly at the end of 8th grade, Nicole split off from Carter because she was getting “tired of him”. I don’t really know the full situation (see: me not paying attention) but Carter was heartbroken. He came over to my house the same night when it was just me and let all of his feelings out. I felt bad for him, he’s a nice guy that really cares about people. Even after his issues with his family, he was still able to trust her when he only trusted me at the time, and she blew that quickly. Needless to say, I’m not a big fan of her.

“Do you really mean that?” I finally responded. He drew back in shock but eased up quickly.

“Yes Oliver. But she is in a different school now, so you won’t see her. But that’s another story. The reason I wanted to walk home with you was because I wanted to check up on you”. Check up on me? I’m 100% sure I am fine, minus the Nightmare Hunting reality. But I’ve been in a great mood.

“Was something wrong?” I questioned. His eyes suspiciously danced around before looking back to me.

“I know you better than anyone. I can tell when something is wrong, it’s a second sense I have,” he stuck his tongue out playfully.

“Carter, I’m doing fine. I promise you, if something was bugging me I would come to you for help. And I mean it,” I threw my arm around his shoulder when we came to a stop by my house from walking. He embraced me for a bit and gave me one final look.

“See you tomorrow, Olly.” Carter said, turning his back towards me. I walked to my house’s driveway and inserted the key, twisting about. My mother wasn’t home when I arrived as I placed my shoes lightly by the base of the stairs and scavenged to my room.

And I call Zack the fake.

 

It was getting near the time.

The lights flashed back at me, 6:54. Mom was off in north Portland for her job so I had the house to myself. I let go of the pressure in my palm and wrapped gently around the cube. The coast was clear.

Time crept slower than usual. Maybe it was the storm drifting pass me as the rain danced alongside the window. But I gulped my last drops of hesitation and touched the cube to my forehead. The blue aura overtook me, I could feel myself passing away from the ground.

The same whiteness I’ve seen for a while now met with my eyes as I opened. Kathy and Zack were already in their Nightmare Hunter gear when they shot a glare at me.

“Took you forever!” Kathy flipped her pony tail as Zack nodded in agreement. Wait, I’m late?

“I’m pretty sure we were meeting at 7PM, it’s like 6:55,”

“We thought you would be early” Zack’s hazel hair was different. The hair shot up with a quaff upward, revealing all of his forehead. Not only that, he was wearing glasses. Funky glasses that screamed “Help me I’m stuck in 1983”.

“Your hair, what.. it looks pretty cool,” I admitted and Zack smiled. But before we could talk more, a wisp flew by me as Solana hovered near our faces.

“We should begin training quickly, we have lots to cover tonight!” he chimed while clapping his hands at me. I nodded,  planting the fragment at my chest. Speedily, I was in my Nightmare Hunter form after a quick flash of blue and I held out my sword. “What’s first?” I asked.

“For starters, let’s start with using our aura with our weapons. Zack, if you may,” and he nodded. Zack quickly thrust his spear out as the tip was covered in yellow rays. The point actually increased in size while he flings it around effortlessly.

“The key to weapon enhancement by aura is concentrating all of your mentality to the hands. Whatever your hands come in contact with, such as your weapon, will be manipulated by your aura. For example, you, Kathy, were able to shoot red arrows by drawing back her bow as if an arrow was there. The mentality created one and Oliver,” he looked towards me, the yellow concentrated on his spear. “You were able to increase your blades power and size as the final strike. It’s all about your mind, really!”.

Solana snapped his fingers and just like that, many floating red targets appeared. They circled like crazy when Zack crackled his knuckles. “Allow me to demonstrate,” he loudly chanted.

Just like that, his spear had grown in size and he spun around, dancing almost. One by one, a target was pierced and thrown against another target. Then out of nowhere, chains wrapped each target and threw it in another direction. There were about half the targets left when he stopped twisting. “How about you try, Kathy?”.

She nodded and crouched down lightly. Her fingers jousted at the tip of her bow and pulled quickly, revealing a red light. She fired as multiple red arrows shot out, hitting each target directly. With a twist, she shot more of the aura arrows as targets went down left and right.

“I think I understand!” she hollered when turning upright. Zack clapped and Solana stared in amazement, well tried to stare. To be honest his eyes are just black dots, I have no idea what his emotions are.

“Oliver,” Solana turned toward me. “Since you seem to be more of a close combat, I have a better idea for you,” his hands were covered in blue flame as he slammed them against the ground. Multiple figures of my size popped up, like training dummies.

“Concentrate your aura on your blade and go in,” he finished while floating around. I nodded and pressed my blade out. It glowed brightly as I charged in quickly. While my sword was blue, my whole body was blue. I was able to slash freely and travel at incredible speeds, shifting and turning as the dummies slashed in half. With one quick spin, the rest of the dummies were slashed in half. The aura faded away and everyone stared back in absolute shock.

“I’ve never seen someone move that fast in my life..” Zack was the first to say. Solana nodded and looked carefully at me.

“Through all of the Nightmare Hunters I’ve seen Oliver, you have something very different. While you can use your aura to increase your sword’s power, you are also able to increase your speed on your own body. Who knows, you might gain more abilities as you go. But this is incredible!”.

Incredible? Well that’s a shocker. But suddenly a dark shadow casted under Solana as he hatefully sighed. A window opened up in front of him and he came into view with a dark window. A little boy with blonde ashen hair like Zack’s Nightmare Hunter form was walking around in a small pathway with toys just laying on the side. All of them were damaged with burns or scars. He was shivering and his face was full of tears. “Shit, already?” Zack called out rushing to Solana’s side.

“I’m surprised one appeared so quickly, and it started around ten minutes ago,” Solana said. Zack looked towards Kathy and I and he nodded. A Temporal Dream was taking place.

“Well, we have no choice but to go in right now. Kathy, Oliver, are you both ready?” Zack awaited our conformation. Both of us looked at each other and agreed. With that, Solana quickly opened up a frame from the picture he was looking at and a vortex formed. Zack jumped right into the colors as Solana quickly followed. Running right in, everything blurred immensely and my vision begun to fade.

***

Floating blocks that hovered in the sky. They were of many colors, red to blue and to yellow. With the blocks came some toys that were old and rugged. It was like a child’s fantasy of living in a toy world gone wrong. We all looked around at the many paths this area had. There were walkways that went upside down, did twists and turns and went straight down. It was like Toys R Us, but Satan messed with it.

The screams of mirth circulated the area when ragged dolls flew by and vanished in thin air. In the distance, you could hear the sounds of a music box playing lightly. Kathy trembled in her stance, drawing back her bow quietly.

“And people think I’m weird for hating dolls,” she mocked in fear.

“I’ve never been a big fan of toy stores anyway,” Zack added on.

“I’m having a hard time finding out where the kid is too. For some reason, this Temporal Nightmare is a labyrinth of some sort that won’t let me track very well…” Solana kept circling around, using his hands as light in this somewhat dim atmosphere.

“In other words, this is going to be a while, right?” I shrugged and held out my sword. More time for my super awesome ability.

 “Perhaps not. I have an idea on how to navigate,” Zack looked in the direction of one path that lead straight upward. It looked impossible to climb, not to mention we have no idea how to track the boy. He quickly leapt forward and threw his arm against a roadway going up. Many chains pulled Zack upward, allowing him to effectively traverse upward and around the side. He reappeared, signaling us forward as we all ran toward the upward path.

The path was bending around rapidly as it collided at an angle against another. Zack was using the chains to bend the paths and make it easier to walk around. How strong are those things anyway? Can they carry elephants?

“This should be an easier way to get around. Everyone ready to go o-“ when suddenly a quake struck us. From the center of this world, a gigantic doll with strands of gray hair squiggling around her face appeared upon our eyes. Gigantic peach like eyes were opened spaciously and waggled furiously. She let out a laugh of disruption to our eyes when we covered.

“Everyone look out!” Solana screamed, but it was too late. The ground crumbled all around us when a giant beam struck the ground. Everything collapsed as all of us went under into the darkness below.

Not a sound could be heard now.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of Part 1: Reality Implement. That means, Part 2: Mortifying Deconstruction, will begin! Yay, our first official arc of Nightmare Hunting!
> 
> I separate the story into three parts. In this case, Part 1 was to introduce the concept of Nightmare Hunting and who the characters were. Part 2 will be cool, we get to meet two new characters!

      My temple was pounding furiously as if someone was drumming on it with a sludge hammer. When I statured myself up, I was met with more colors than I had ever seen. It was like I was in a rainbow canyon. Wait, was I in heaven? As I tried to stand on my wobbly legs, I felt my blade in its case pierce a centimeter in my skin, causing me to yelp a bit.

Nope. I’m still alive.

While I analyzed my surroundings, another person slowly got up near me. It was Zack, he brushed his head with his sleeve and opened his eyes, looking around at the new area. “Where is everyone?” he questioned hazily.

“No idea. It’s just us I think. I don’t really remember much after the giant doll blasted us into the darkness..” my senses finally snapped back to tomorrow as I got a good look around the area.

There were more toys and blocks. Instead of dolls, they were forged like legos. You could count all the colors and shapes, it was breath taking to the eyes. I stared in awe at the place and gently slid the textures of each block that I could reach with my hands. Caressing one of the blocks, I let my nimble fingers graze the texture. Rough, jagged, edged, but soft like childhood. There were stars twinkling above us, like you could actually touch space and infinity. It was like we were in a space Lego set. “This is… incredible,” the words bolted out of me. The more I stared into the starry sky, the less my headache throbbed.

“I’ve never seen such a pretty Temporal Dream before. Most of the ones I’ve been in are crucifying and evil. This… well I don’t even know where to start…” he was as shocked as I was when he scurried to my side. “But while this is pretty and all, we kind of have some big issues,”.

“Yeah. We’re trapped in a labyrinth that god knows the size of it plus Kathy and Solana are missing meaning the search for the boy becomes harder,” I exhaled a sigh of disappointment. We both gazed over at the platforms just adjust in space. “Ready to go exploring Oliver?” he questioned.

“What’s the worst that could happen?” and we took off.

With my aura, I was able to keep up at a decent pace with Zack’s chains. He soared across the sky though, using his chains like ropes. He connected them to a floating block and swung across, ripping the air apart. I was able to keep up by jumping from platform to platform with my enhanced speed. My thoughts were cut short at the sound of inverted laughter.

“I see some dolls ahead. Go into the west and I’ll cover the east!” Zack hollered before entering into the swarm. I quickly shot to the left and struck out my blade. With one slash the fabric melted away like snow, vanishing into the darkness below us.

As I made swift movements around, cutting through each of the figures, I felt a lash at my back when I was struck forward into a floating block. Quickly getting up and scanning, there were dolls connected like whips with their stubby hands together flapping around immensely. But I couldn’t see the end of the long whips due to so many of them hovering around. We were outnumbered harshly and not in good hands. “Something’s not right!” I screamed as quick as possible before getting struck again. Zack leapt from the east wing and used his chains to tie some dolls together and threw them back.

“Why are they suddenly forming long whips and attacking quickly? It’s like they can read our movements before we execute them!” he yelled. I stood back and watched as all of them circled in the same pattern around us.

Wait a minute, something was not right. As soon as we stopped attacking and moving, the dolls don’t even attack anymore. Even the ones that formed the whips disengaged and continued to circle. Not to mention, all of the dolls had red dresses on except one. There was one in the back of the pack who had a blue one on and stayed as far away as possible. I noticed this while continuing to move through the flank. And then, it hit me.

“They’re blind!” I whispered to Zack who gave me his full attention. He lowered his guard and leaned into me.

“Wait, they are? How could they attack us though?”

“I think it has to do with the blue one. They act as sensors, picking up our movement. I think the blue one is like a hub of some sort who controls everyone else. So my theory is, if we can destroy the blue doll, then…”

“… Then they all go down, right?” Zack finished my sentence. I smiled, nodding in agreement. He then looked towards the swarming dolls that were helplessly confused due to no sound being made by our weapons or movement. “If that’s the case, I’ll try and find the blue one. If I can slow him down, I need you to go in and finish him off. Got it?”

I didn’t even get a chance to reply as Zack leapt in head first. He quickly threw himself into the swarm while I stayed clear of the side. We both swatted each away, avoiding the dolls that turned into whips. “I got him Oliver, go for it!” I listened to Zack shout. With this, I apprehended my blade and followed the chains.

Sure enough the blue doll was locked in chains. I had perfect speed and a great angle, it would only take one shot. Closer and closer I got, I was shivering in anticipation. I was inches away when I thrust my blade right into the blue doll. But while I do that, I hear a voice shriek loudly that broke me from my combat calamity.

It wasn’t a doll’s voice either.

“Zack!” I abruptly dove to where he was as all of the doll’s vanished. Zack had landed on a giant brick that floated down to a walkway going across. He was lightly thrown off and landed against the ground. His spear crashed hard on the side and tumbled away a few feet when I got to him. He was shivering and shaky like something attacked him.

“Why was she there.. why? I thought I moved on, it’s been years…” he continued to mumble. When I leaned down next to him, I saw some water lines running down his cheeks. Dear god what happened to him?

“Zack, answer me. Are you alright?” he finally snapped back to his senses when I looked right into my eyes. It was obvious something was wrong, he heisted for my arm and pulled himself up nearly throwing me off balance.

“Uh, yeah. I’m fine. I got attacked and all. But it’s okay now!” his voice was a little shaky and he tried to flash a grin. Perhaps my judgment on him isn’t so wrong after all.

“That’s the most BS I’ve heard in my life. When you scream and start to have a mental breakdown, you can’t just say you are all right and have people go for it,”

“Oliver, trust me. It’s fine. Let’s just keep mov-“ he stopped what he was doing as I pulled his collar back a bit. I looked him dead into the eyes and dropped my thunder eyebrows. He drew back a bit, but sighed finally. His breath was full of trepidation as I studied his movements.

“… Would you even bother caring?” a new side to Zack blazed to me when I eyed him.

“Yes, I would bother caring,” proudly I claimed. He let out a sigh that was like hot air trapped in a balloon finally escaping the prison it was in. His hazel nightmare hunter eyes twinkled under the stars from above while mini Lego bricks continued to skate through the sky.

“.. Why does it even matter to you?” this new side to him shocked me a bit.

“Aren’t I your friend, Zack?”

“A friend doesn’t pry for information from someone, you know,”

“No. A good friend does that,” he puckered his lips into a frown and sighed, adjusting his head to the side. He let out one final sigh and shrugged his body a bit.

“It started with the reason why I’m a Nightmare Hunter to this day,” both of us trod along the path in front of us. “I kept a promise that I knew was too much for me.”. We halted for a second as he let his spear vanish away. I placed my sword back in its handle as we were far away from any demon.

“My parents are very successful business leaders who run corporations. They have never been able to make free time at all because they were so busy. I spent a lot of my time playing alone because of this, trying to make the best out of it. Things got worse and worse as I got older, and when I was 13 years old, well… I fell subjected to a Temporal Dream,” he shivered a bit when recollecting those words, giving him terrible thoughts. “I thought I was going to die as everything about my life crumbled right then. But then, Alice saved me from the nightmare and brought me back to the dream realm,” he smiled as the name Alice slipped his lips.

“So your first friend was a Nightmare Hunter? That must have been something.”

“Alice Marie Rose. God the name just brings back lots of memories. If it wasn’t for her, I would have succumbed to death and despair. But she… she was like my light, as cheesy as that sounds. No matter what was going on, she always smiled and stuck herself out for people. Alice was like a big sister I always wanted,”. Zack continued to raise his lips every time he mentioned her name. I could tell that she was very important to him. Although I think I know where this is going.

“So did Alice ask you to become a Nightmare Hunter?”.

“Actually, I asked. After seeing what she did and Solana telling me what a Nightmare Hunter was, something inside me busted in energy. It was like, something that could keep me away from my life I suppose. So Alice took me on some Temporal Dreams,” he held out his hands, gazing at the scars on some of his wrists. “They were dangerous, but I got to see what a Nightmare Hunter does. Although, her throwing knife skills were unmatched. Not to mention she could teleport anything and all you saw was her orange well dressed outfit slide by,”.

Zack suddenly stopped pressing forward when we were across a bridge. The Lego like bricks had gone away now and we were starting to return back to the original atmosphere when we first entered. “I made a promise with Alice that I would become a stronger person overall. So I would never have to fall into a Temporal Dream again!” he laughed like he was reading this out of a joke book.

“… So when did you officially start your Nightmare Hunter business?” I regretfully asked in a second. His look made a complete 180 from joking to sad. Damn it Oliver learn the situation.

“It was something I did to save my life.” He paused. It was hard for him to speak again. “Alice and I were out on a Temporal Dream when the fiend got the best of her and struck her. Her body was ripped in half by arrows and was left dangling in the air before dropping into the holes in the ground. At last minute out of pure terror, I grabbed a hold of my fragment and pulled it into my chest, becoming a Nightmare Hunter. So my first job ever as one was to defeat the fiend as quickly as possible. I did it, but barely,” he made a few quick swivels, erasing any existence of tears. “Sometimes I wonder.. will I ever be able to erase her last face from my mind?”.

Regret formed into my morbid mind. “Zack I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was this personal. If I did I wouldn’t have asked you at all, shoot I’m sor-“ he cupped his hands tightly on my mouth to shut me up. Now he was pleasantly smiling again, he was like a jack in the box of emotions. The floating lights from before rose up again, illuminating some of the area.

“I haven’t told anybody about Alice. The only ones who knew about her death were Solana and I. This has been kept captive in my mind for three years. And now that I finally sold someone, it honestly… feels good. It feels good to tell someone, ya know? I don’t feel so alone about it now…” I lightly pulled my arms onto his shoulders, staring him down again. Everything was starting to become clear, things were finally making sense. Perhaps there is more than one way I can help out.

“You’re not alone at all, Zack.” This caught him off guard as he looked down real quick and shot me a surprised look.

“Wh-what?...”

“You’re not alone anymore. Even if Alice is gone, you have two people who are willing to fight and help you. Because after all… Kathy and I will fight with you. We will make sure nobody else has to suffer Temporal Nightmares like you and Alice did. We want to make the world better, that was our goal. Zack, you’re a great person. You are kind, funny and willing to help out the less fortunate. That’s what makes you a great Nightmare Hunter. Not for how much you have suffered or how long you have been a hunter for, but you willing to sacrifice anything.  And we plan to stick it with you Zack”. His eyes pried open in shock as his lips quivered into a smile. “As long as we live,”.

“Do you really mean that?” a blank stare.

“Every word Zack. I want to become an official Nightmare Hunter and help you in any way possible,”. His eyes slowly lit up, like seeing a puppy for the first time. His hands released all tension and slowly fell into marvelous relaxation.

In just one second, Zack pulled me into a tearful hug and clutched onto my cape. He couldn’t stop shaking, his mind was finally unleashed. I could hear his low sobs into my neck and the droplets of his tears fall.

It’s amazing what you see when someone opens up.

After a while, Zack stopped the shaking a bit and quickly drew back in embarrassment. There were still signs of dry tears on his face as he was pulling himself together.

“I’m supposed to be the older one too, oh lord…” we both just raised our smiles in contentment and pleasure. Endlessly at the same time we could feel each other on the same level. Finally he was smiling again, a real smile too. I felt like I finally know who the real Zackary is. And I want to keep it this way for as long as we fight together.

“To keep my promise with Alice, I stuck to being a Nightmare Hunter. I trained and trained and fought many dangers, but I wanted to become stronger. And that’s where I am today. The dolls imitated a laugh that sounded just like Alice’s which blew me into shock… so I’m sorry about that,” he grim fully appealed. My mouth tugged itself upward on its own, realizing what happened now. All of a sudden, our dream fragments flashed crazy as both of us scurried to pull them out.

“Look, our cubes!” I noticed when a flashing light reflected back brightly. It meant that Kathy and Solana were nearby! We both looked at each other in excitement.

“Quick! Let’s go find them as soon as possible. Then we can maybe track the fiend too,” Zack yelled. He pulled me from my trance we were in a minute ago as we ran down the path quickly. For once, I was now on par with Zackary Skornav and all about him. While we hurried along, I noticed his lips mouthed a quick response. A simple, yet effective: Thank you.

Being a Nightmare Hunter won’t be so bad if we have people like Zack.

 

Proceeding along, I caught view of two outlines up on the horizon, matching a small one and one my size. Immediately, I knew who they were.

“Kathy! Solana!” Zack and I yelled together. She greeted us with an immensely happy expression. Solana gently floated near us, clasping his hands with force and raising his eyes in excitement.

“You guys! Oh god, we were worried sick…” Kathy wandered her eyes off but Zack cut her off by grasping her shoulders with his nimble fingers.

“I wouldn’t fail that easy, you know,” he winked and paid attention to Solana. His expression reversed completely to full attention.

“I can feel the fiend’s aura. Is it right under us?” he asked.

“It couldn’t be anything else. I can feel the boy’s presence as well. We don’t have that much time though..”.

“Then I suggest we get a move on before it’s too late,” Zack’s arms glowed brightly when shackles spawned from his sides, allowing him to have full movement around the entire area.

But something was off. His normal expression of grief or a stern face wasn’t equipped. It was a genuine face of happiness. He looked like he was proud of his life and his job. It brought me to think about a Nightmare Hunter and what they go through. I watched Zack give all of it in these past few days, I felt like a proud parent.

We leapt into the darkness, colliding against it with our shimmering thoughts of hope. Chains, arrows and swords all ready to fight back. And before we knew it, the fiend’s grisly calls reached us.

 

The full size of the doll was easily twenty feet. It looked hand stitched, veiled in colors of deep aqua to scarlet red on the dress. The surrounding area was enclosed with turquoise despair, leaving Zack, Kathy, Solana and I together. The doll’s brown blades of hair wavered through the thick air, letting out an ominous laugh that sent chills through my whole body.

But Zack walked in front, diligently smiling. With one clunk on the floor, shackles whipped everywhere. The whole room was surrounded by them, causing the fiend massive quivering it’s position.

“Zack, what are you-“ but Kathy was cut off by that smile. He simply nodded, tossing his spear up front.

“I’m going to show you how to correctly defeat a fiend! That way, we can fight and defeat as many as we want together!”.

It only took a second before he leapt into the air. Chains all around flew vigorously towards the doll, wrapping it’s every inch. Kathy drew back her bow, launching swarms of strings that tried to reach Zack. But he kept going, tipping on each chain to boost his jump and launching him into the air. He could only caress the wind with his spear and go forward.

“I’ve never seen Zack like this..!” Solana could barely finish.

“Did you do something to him, Oliver?!” Kathy gawked in marvel as she watched the sophomore maneuver through the air like it was nothing.

“Well? What are ya waiting for you two? Let’s do this together!” he cried vastly, the tone bouncing through my ears. It was a passion that was once locked, finally sieved and brought back. I sprinted forward, pulling back my sword into action.

In one leap, I was midway in air with blue colors, bursting in hope. Chains boosted my travel as they pushed me bit by bit, running. Soon, a bridge was formed in rumbling shackles that could be barely stable. I felt like I was running at speeds faster than a jet taking off.

Kathy’s arrows tore the air into pieces, striking each string from the fiend. It was useless for the monster, everything was being torn apart.

“Oliver!” Zack yelled, landing on the path by me, sprinting to the side. “Let me show you how to do a real finishing attack!” and he leapt into the air again, gaining major distance from the fiend. I sprinted away, twirling around and slashing all remaining strings, joining Kathy’s side.

“Alice! You don’t have to worry anymore… I’m fine. In fact.. I’ve never felt better in my whole entire life!” he screamed when his spear twisted inward. All of the shackles formed what seemed to be a void behind him, wrapping at the bottom of his spear. His weapon enlarged, becoming bigger and bigger.

“It’s over now!” Zack hollered at the top of his lungs when throwing the gigantic spear. It pierced right through the doll’s neck, the void of chins wrapping all around the fiend’s body. Wrapping and wrapping, suffocating all of its darkness. When suddenly, the chains lit up quickly.

A blast of light detonated in front of us when Zack dropped down. The colors on the walls melted when a purifying air blew through. He landed slowly with his shackles, his spear following too. Zack tipped against the ground and stared towards us as the light shined all above, lifting up the dark veil.

“Zack.. you did it!” Kathy yelled and pushed herself into him, giving him a big hug. I raised my lips and nodded before feeling Zack pull my cape into the hug too.

“This is our future.. isn’t it?” I couldn’t help but speak when looking at the distance. The same boy we saw wandering around, wasn’t in fright anymore. He was sleeping away with a smile on his face. The fiend must have hid him away with strings, and the dark veil couldn’t let us see him.

“Ah! Here it is!” Solana plucked the laminating flower on the side and hovered towards the boy. He placed it against his temple, the light shinning all over. The purification flower was working, all of the dark energy was leaving.

“This is it, you guys.. you’ve become official Nightmare Hunters,” Zack looked towards Kathy and I, patting our shoulder. “We’ll face challenges like these on the daily and risk our lives so much. But we will be together, right?”

“Of course! Together!” Kathy cheered like it was a song. But she was right, we would be together. I made that promise with Zack and I didn’t intend on breaking it.

Being a Nightmare Hunter may not get me fame (hell people wouldn’t believe me if I say I risk my life to fight demons in dreams). But it’s something I can do to feel proud. Something that gives me pride, knowing I saved someone’s life. I helped them be able to continue their future and it makes me feel all energetic.

I already saved three people, I can save plenty of others.

“I’m going to open the portal now!” Solana casted his hands together, spewing a beam of light to collide with the ground. Quickly, he hovered inside. Kathy ran too, the two vanishing. Zack was about to enter as well before he glanced at me.

“Ah.. before I go. I need to tell you something,” he looked towards me. “What do you need?” my voice sounded exhausted.

“Well.. I don’t know how to put this. But thank you, Oliver. Thank you for making me realize something I should have known,” and he stepped right into the portal. How.. unexpected. I never thought I would see him being this considerate towards others. But that’s what surprises you in life. You can never see these things. I strutted into the portal, thinking deeply about my choices.

Like me being a Nightmare Hunter. I’m pretty sure nobody saw that coming at all.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo new Chapter. And Chapter 9 is on the way as well. This is the start of a new arc so hooray.

“Every time I look outside, I feel like time is moving too fast, you know?” Carter squabbled about the outside weather to me during our morning period. We both sat, I sipped my morning coffee still while he was drinking a protein shake for his meet today.

“It’s not that bad,”

“We're already a month through school. How is that not bad?”

“It hasn't been a year yet!”

Six weeks have passed since the beginning of school as we arrived officially in October, about halfway through actually. Not to mention, it’s been about six weeks of being an official Nightmare Hunter too. Yep! Six weeks of hunting Nightmares with Zack and Kathy, doing my best and getting a lot better at combat. Not to mention, I've gotten along well with both of them to the point where Kathy can acknowledge me and talks to me in public. So far, things have been pretty good.

“Well, fall always does this. Especially in Oregon. I mean one second, it’s sunny and then oops it’s super cold. I wish we could just keep a certain pattern of weather…” I replied to his question. He nodded, taking in everything as if I was a high superior. As I was about to squawk more about weather, a light tap on my head contracted my attention elsewhere. Kathy slouched by my side as Zack placed himself at our table. “Hey Carter and Oliver!” she cheered pleasantly.

“Hi Kathy, Hi Zack,” Carter spoke. Of course as I hang out with these two, Carter is bound to be there a couple times. He’s getting used to the two being around, yet has no idea of what we do during the night. Don’t think it’s what you think it is.

“ Did you get any of the homework done for History?” I took the chance to question. She grumbled and rolled her eyes.

“I’m not a homework machine, you know…” her voice sounded like a wolf’s growl, drawing Zack back a bit. She bit her lip pulling out the sheets. Carter and I leapt for them, copying her moves exactly. It’s hard to imagine how well I will progress in high school if I can’t even complete homework. She rolled her eyes and joined the crew.

“Don’t worry, the AP students are as worse as you. I speak with experience,” Zack laughed aside, gripping onto his homework and looked through the confusing phrased questions. All of us had gotten used to each other. And it only took a few tears and many near death experiences. Carter got up and excused himself as he had some things to do for the cross country team, alluring Kathy into some shock when something shot through her head.

“What’s the point of doing work for school when you serve as a Nightmare Hunter? You could practice more!” A loud but usual voice pitched through my head. Solana had figured out how to project thoughts towards any current Nightmare Hunter. He’s now able to communicate with all three of us as one or each individually. This also works out well because Kathy, Zack and I are linked by thoughts and use this as a telepath of some sort.

“Because we need to do our best in both realms of course,” Kathy’s voice joined. And after a few remarks here and there, the bell rang as all three of us entered the classroom. Mrs. Gibbons was more excited as usual when she walked in and fluttered a bit.

“I have some great news everyone!” even her voice was pitch perfect. With just those words, the class got quiet and my pencil created sounds the Titanic’s crash could have used.

“My cousin got me some great deals as I was able to figure things out. We have the option of spending up to four days and three nights in a new and exotic location!”

Everyone was in a minor riot. We had no warning but suddenly questions were stirring.

"Where are we going?” asked Susan in the back.

“Will it be out of the country?” questioned Rick.

“We're not traveling too far, but the history is what will take us back so far. We’re going to Washington!” she hollered.

“Washington DC?!”

“No! Washington the state! Why does everyone think that?!” a sigh of sadness was let out by everyone. I’m sure Washington was a state everyone had been to if you lived down here. Even my mom that doesn't like traveling has been to Seattle too many times.

People were raising the volume up and erupting my peace. Kathy smiled and turned towards me, flickering her pencil in glee.

“You know, I have always wanted to go to Washington..” she let out words as if nobody was around. Mrs. Gibbons continued her chatter.

“You've never been there…?” I replied, dumbfounded.

"My family never really travelled. The one time was moving to Oregon, but that’s it. I’m excited!” she turned her head in a curious smile. But before I could think a second more, Mrs. Gibbons clashed papers on my desk.

“Oliver! Since you were so busy talking, you probably didn't hear my news!” she nonchalantly winked.

“We’re going to Washington, I heard that,”

“But did you hear who you were rooming with?” as she put the roster down. I quickly scanned and noticed my name with Carter. Carter peaked behind me and nudged my back with his hands, shaking me mildly.

“How about me?” she glanced at the list. Kathy looked puzzled, double checking the room.

“May I ask who this girl is?” Kathy looked at the name carefully. Mrs. Gibbons looked and smiled.

“She is our new student coming tomorrow. I think you and Allison will get along!” she said.

A new student? My mind casted away from the talk and dismissed itself into its own section. Maybe I’m just thinking too much about it, but the name Allison sounds familiar. In just a second, Zack nudged me back into reality.

“From what I know, Allison is an honors student who attended many private schools in California and achieved perfect grades. She is one of the smartest students in the country and nobody has a clear understanding why her parents chose this school I’d say she seems pretty interesting” Zack went off. Mrs. Gibbons walked away to connect with everyone else that was trying to figure out their groups.

“Why would she choose this school? If I was an elite student I would choose the best one that offered me a position?” Carter questioned. Nobody really had an answer, but maybe it’s better to ask her when she gets here.

Maybe I can see if I truly remember her or not.

***

“Oh? A new student is coming to your school?” Solana imposed curiosity while I slashed into the abyss. Perfecting my speed techniques would require control over my blade first. He hovered around me and flocked his gloves in excitement.

“I don’t really think it’s something to worry about. She just seems like one of those smartass rich students who wants to shove their wealth down us “commoners” throats…” Zack scoffed. Kathy’s arrows stopped firing as she twisted towards the conversation.

“Maybe we should give her a chance?”

“Kathy’s right. We don’t even know her and it’s not like she is involved with Nightmare Hunting or anything,” but I still couldn’t shake the feeling I know her just by the name.

“You know, not all new students are involved in Nightmare Hunting” she looked at me with a puzzled face.

“Welcome to America, you got to take chances”

“Her name was Allison. Do you know any Allison, Solana?” Zack asked before whipping his spear around. The dummies that were projected got whipped down thoroughly, seems of the fabric ripping apart.

“Allison… Allison… nope! Doesn't sound familiar to me!” he floated around and landed near me. I let down my blade and felt the sweat pouring like a waterfall trickle down my sides. If I kept this up I would just tire myself out.

“At any rate, we have bigger things to worry about. Like about our class field trip. If we are all in Washington for four days, will we be able to hunt for Temporal Dreams?” I shot out the thought. We all drew back a bit, not realizing that concept yet.

“Oh that? Please! That’s no problem~” Solana’s relaxed voice eased the concern. “The location of where you are doesn’t matter. You can access the Dream Realm as long as you have your cube. If there is an issue during the day, I can call you guys!”.

“But we can’t break from the tours so easily. So if there was a Temporal Dream, it would be hard to get in and fight while trying to attend whatever the plan was,” Kathy said.

“Hmm… maybe we could use that method?” but before I got to ask, Solana quickly shouted: “No Solana! That’s a stupid idea!”.

“I think we should get back to the real world. It’s getting late…” Zack looked at his watch. The time read 8:34, we had been in the realm for at least an hour now training. We all nodded and grasped our cubes, waving goodbye. I felt the blue warmth trap me once again and my vision faded. The next thing I see was the familiar patterns from my bedroom as I pried open my eyes.

And not long, my cell phone buzzed on the desk in my room. Picking it up, I noticed Carter’s name flashing. I swiped the green key and answered.

"Yo. What’s up?”

“Dude! I have been trying to call you for an hour. I was tempted to run over there and see if something happened!” I pulled back from the phone. His voice was startling and corrupt, you could tell he was worried.

“Hey, I was studying! I don’t really check my phone too much. You know that, right?”.

“Again? That happened last time too. But whatever, now that you answered I need to ask you about the field trip. It’s in two days and all and we didn’t even get to talk about our escape plan!” My mind went in a complete 180 when he said escape.

“You really don't mean that, do you?”

“Of course! On the last day, you and I should go hit whatever city is nearby together when everyone is asleep. Like, a night adventure!”.

"I dunno Carter.. it’s a high school trip. Can we risk it?” I was iffy about this idea Carter had. The last time we snuck out we had a good time for an hour before someone called the police on us because wearing all black outside can give people quite the wrong thoughts.

“I think it'll be fine dude. We just have to execute this in the middle of the night and make sure nobody gets words of it. You can do that, right?” he begged over the phone. I sighed and let in slowly.

“Fine. We can do something. I just want to be back at a reasonable ti-“ and Carter was so happy he was cheering frantically on the phone. “I love you so much!” he laughed and I smiled, looking through my notes.

“We should probably head to bed soon. We have a class field trip to plan for, you know,” I spoke out. He grunted from the other side of the phone. Pressing the end call button, I just fell onto my bed. Everything was fuzzy because of how exhausted I was. But I had a field trip to look forward to. And the new student, Allison. Something about Allison strikes me odd, but I cannot really fixate onto why I think that.

I skimmed through my text messages and glanced at who I talk to the most. Obviously, Carter is on the top. But I scroll through Kathy and some of her messages pop up. I’m just bored at this point, I cannot really sleep.

I lay the phone onto the fabric and rest my head for as long as I can. The Nightmare Hunting and the new life was still a daze to me. But do I regret this decision? Never, and I’m glad I did. I can save people and I’m one of the very few people in the world who has accessed the Dream Realm. So, I consider myself amazing and lucky all at once. But my life had just begun. So as I solemnly dressed myself for bed and placed my body into the shield of covers, I lay at rest knowing I would be okay.

***

The classroom quickly covered in familiar faces. Kathy wobbled towards my direction and placed herself near me. We both were thinking similar thoughts as Mrs. Gibbons entered. The class was growing silent and small, banal chatter was echoing in the back. Not only is our trip tomorrow, the new student is arriving today. You could say this was one of the more eventful days.  

And it didn't take long for her to enter. She was surprisingly short. In fact, she probably matched the height of a grade schooler. Not even five foot. Her long, blonde curls zoomed the outskirts of her body which tied into her churl, crimson smile. She looked like a doll, painted in fake paint that portrayed nothing but a positive aura.

The class was captivated quickly. Not a drop of sound flowed into the air.

“Hello!” her tone was squeaky, but kind. She smiled to the classroom as they all gazed at her. “My name is Allison Clover, I came from a private school in California, but now I’m here and ready to learn. I hope we can get along together!” she finished with a pleasant smile. Kathy scoffed near me and Zack chuckled to our small group. It was a short introduction, but one that caught your attention. I mean, Allison was pretty. She was probably the cutest girl in the class.

And of course, everyone else was ecstatic. But leave it to Garret to try and whisper “She looks like my little cousin…” to Carter behind me.

 They were smiling and welcoming, allowing Allison into our class life. Even I’ll admit, she was pretty. She looked like she was straight out of a beauty magazine and put into our life. All the features a model would have was placed onto her figure and graced upon us. And her light pink dress complimented all of her hair and eyes that swam down her skin.

“I already don’t like her,” Kathy commented first. She shot evil glances towards Allison when she was not looking as Mrs. Gibbons escorted her to her seat. She was placed on the far right side of the classroom, just in direction of Zack and I’s point of view Zack chimed in as well, as calm as ever.

“What do you mean? She just seems like a normal supermodel student. But didn’t you say we should give her a chance? And she doesn’t seem to want to shove dollar bills down my throat. Though I kind of wish she would, I need money”.

“That’s the thing. I don’t like preppy girls. I’ve had bad experiences with them in the past that I prefer never happen again.. and I retract my original statement then!” she brushed the remaining hair strands out of her face, focusing onto the notebook.

Of course, it was more about Kathy and her past. Something she hasn’t really opened up about ever since we became “friends” in a sense. I’ve shared a fair amount of my life, but all Kathy did was explain about her family and their economical stance in the market and why they moved over to Oregon. She didn’t talk about childhood much and dared not to talk about where she lived. Money was the only thing you could pull from her past. Hey, I’m not complaining.

When I went to take one last glance at Allison, she quickly gazed at me and smiled. This caught me off guard and while flustering, I turned away to the direction of our teacher. The class continued on with our lesson and we all went back to the worksheets on our desk. And ever so slightly, my ears could pick up a soft tone of a hum that was a melody to my head.

Glancing ever so slightly, I was able to see Allison that jolted down all the questions on the board quickly, smiling away to her own. It was like she was in her own world, a clairvoyant of some sort Allison amazed me, I was allured to her. But I had no idea why, I don’t care for girls like these. And even stranger, the feeling I have inside me is just swinging around, like it wants to break out. But it would be best to wait for another chance to think about this, I had other things on my mind.

***

Eventually the bell had rung to dismiss everyone from the school day. And it was about time, I was getting somewhat anxious for tomorrow’s trip. Ms. Bushido left her daily homework on the wall but too many kids passed by to even really notice. As I finished jotting down what was left, I looked over to see Carter waiting for me outside. I waved to him for a minute as he nodded and walked by. Ms. Bushido also got up from her desk, fixating on my writing.

“I’m going to be gone for a few minutes. Feel free to leave whenever, but please shut the door Adam,” she politely asked as she left the room. And so I was left all alone, the crowd outside was fading. Collecting my thoughts was easier now that the place had cleared out. Scavenging last minute for anything I might leave behind, a knock caught my attention on the door.

“Excuse me? Could you help me with something?” it was Allison herself, standing among the doorway. I hesitated at first but gradually, I smiled. “What’s up?”

“I’m sorry to bug you, I saw you as I passed by and I remember you from history. May I please get directions to the counseling center?” her tone was ever so wise, like an aged painting in a museum. And her graceful charm captivated my senses completely.

“Go down the stairs to your right and look for the door on the left. It should say counseling center,” I gave her the instructions she asked and her face lit up. “Thank you!” she replied, before turning away. And just as I was about to leave myself, a shift in footsteps stopped my direction.

“Your name is Oliver, correct?” Allison stood outside, as if waiting for my exit. It shocked me somewhat.

“Yep. It’s nice to meet you, Allison” I stated back. But she quickly grabbed my hands and shakes them up and down. “It’s quite nice to be in your charm! And I hope the field trip tomorrow will allow us to bond,” she smiled one last time before bowing and taking her exit.

She was pretty formal, like especially formal. For a high schooler, that’s incredible. I had never seen someone of my age be so polite to another person. It was like time had set back somewhat.

And her name was Allison Clover.


End file.
